Starfield Could be in Trouble, as Player Numbers Plummet

Even with commercial and critical success, Bethesda's long-awaited sci-fi RPG is falling off quicker than its predecessors.

[LordoftheCritics]

Elder Scrolls 6 could be in trouble.

[StarkR3ality]

They just need to go back to hand crafted content, proceedual generation just won't excite players and make them want to explore, you have to give them reasons to.

Witcher 3, RDR2, Skyrim, all the best open worlds are mostly handcrafted with great environmental story telling and interesting things to find. Starfield has literally none of that.

[Crows90]

Okay. So remnant 2 is procedurally generated mixed with hand crafting.

It's how you use the tools that matters not the tools themselves.

Bethesda was just incredibly lazy here.

[jwillj2k4]

The idea is to make procedural the norm not go back to paying for talent. That want eventually the rest of the industry will come on board so reviewers will see they have the cleanest shirt in a basket of dirty laundry

[GhostScholar]

Guess you didn’t get the memo that the dungeons and caves in Skyrim were procedural. So were the quests after beating the game.

[Godmars290]

You're talking about a studio, a head developer, who blamed high end rigs not being high enough for their/his own coding issues. Never mind Bethesda's been dependent on fans patching their bugs, making mods, to compensate for their shortcomings from the beginning.

[StarkR3ality]

Yeah but what percentage was that though? As far as I remember most locations were handcrafted with elements of PG to flash out those boring quests which were the worst part of Skyrim.

Most of the content which I found most interesting was entering a location and finding a load of dead bodies or some shit like that, no idea what happened, and you would never know unless you dug deeper to find a journal and something along the lines like that, and it would have a back story behind the random dead bodies. It makes the world feel alive, RDR2 and Witcher 3 also have great examples of that type of content.

Starfield has nothing like that.

Procedural Generation has its place, but when you completely rely on it to make a video game that's when it fails.

So maybe take your memo and sling it.

[shinoff2183]

I think your right Stark. What turned me of was the lack of lore but that's not to bad. The procedural stuff just idk lacks. I get it a little. There just open soulless planets but maybe they should've cut the numbers down and handcrafted more.

[StarkR3ality]

@shinoff2183

Absolutely, if they stuck to maybe a solar system or 2, and really fleshing out the planets and making them unique while having more things happen during space travel.

What they went for is incredibly ambitious and I give them their flowers for trying, Todd wanted to make a galaxy spanning adventure. But it just doesn't really translate to a good video game.

I know people compare this game to No Man's Sky and Star Citizen, but I also find those games boring as hell. That's just me as a gamer, but I need some kind of at least decent narrative to keep me engaged.

I don't have time to wander endlessly without rewarding interesting things to come across, maybe when I was a kid, not now I'm in my late 20's, just don't have time.

[Einhander1972]

They just need to go back to hand crafted content, proceedual generation just won't excite players and make them want to explore, you have to give them reasons to.

But AI is the future...

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

@Crows90,

This is what I wanted to say, procedurally generated isn't bad, they could have used that to make the world initially, but they should have either reduced the scope or added a lot more hand crafted elements. I always knew this game would eventually tank it's good reviews, a lot of games don't get "real reviews" until a month or 3 after release depending on the game.

[1Victor]

@Lord:”Elder Scrolls 6 could be in trouble.”

Elder Scroll 6could be in trouble without PlayStation players base.

There I fix it for you
I hope microsoft learn from this and re-think their strategy of taking 3rd party games from PlayStation, but we all know it’s not going to happen 🤷🏿

Edit: I know starfield wasn’t “announced for PlayStation “ but only a idiot would think it wasn’t meant to be announced before the studio purchase with all their previous work been on all possible platforms

[S2Killinit]

Did MS make starfield as a GAAS game?

I mean it was an average game at best. I dont expect it to have a lot of legg unless MS wanted to make it a GAAS game?

[StarkR3ality]

If they were comparing it to a generic single player title then I think you'd be right. Problem is Bethesda has made a rock for its own back being probably the biggest western RPG dev. Their games always have incredibly high customer retention, this does not, it's just missing that magic that the previous games had.

It's a damn shame.

[Sonic1881]

I'm not surprised with Starfield because the game was boring imo

[Obscure_Observer]

Hardly in trouble when you have 23,016 active players on STEAM and ranks at 10th most played game on Xbox after almost 3 months, since Starfield has no additional content or official mod support.

There´s still 250 developers still working on the game POS-launch which is nothing but awesome news for Starfield fans since Bethesda is making Starfield their main priority. About 200 people are currently working on both upcoming TESVI and Fallout 5!

Starfield will continue to grow and get better in the coming months and years thanks to Xbox and Bethesda continued support like it should be.

[Elda]

23 thousand is nothing. Those numbers should be hundreds of thousands, millions would be a hit. Again...MS/Bethesda still haven't disclosed sale numbers, which only means the game didn't sell as well as they thought it would.

[Vits]

They will never disclose sale numbers, that is not what Microsoft reports and haven't been for literal years.

[Barlos]

GP would have had a big impact on sales, definitely for Xbox. It would be interesting to know how well it sold on Steam though.

@Vits you can guarantee if the sales were tens of millions they would tell us. The fact they don't only leads me to think they're probably not that high, or haven't met with Microsoft/Bethesda's expectations.

[Charlieboy333]

Also 10th most played. On a system that has practically nothing worth playing as it is. For Bethesda's supposedly next 'big thing' after just 3 months. I don't think Obscure knows how bragging works.

[Vits]

@Barlos

So what you are saying is that LITERALLY not a single game from them has met expectations in the last half a decade? Man, how do they even keep being in business? Really impressive stuff.

[Obscure_Observer]

@Elda

"23 thousand is nothing."

Nothing is what you know about STEAM charts. Absolute NO game from Sony Studios released on STEAM could come close to Starfield´s peak and active playerbase despite the fact that it was available day one with PC Gamepass. Those are the facts for you.

"MS/Bethesda still haven't disclosed sale numbers, which only means the game didn't sell as well as they thought it would."

Like I said; you know nothing!

Despite the fact that it´s a new IP and available day one on both Xbox and PC Gamepass, Starfield literally destroyed big and established franchises in sales like MK1, FFXVI, Resident Evil, MLB23 and SF6!

Circana September 2023: Top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.

Rank Title Publisher
1 NEW Starfield Microsoft (Corp)
2 NEW Mortal Kombat 1 Warner Bros. Games
3 NEW EA Sports FC 24 Electronic Arts
4 1 Madden NFL 24 [EA Sports] Electronic Arts
5 NEW Payday 3 Plaion
6 NEW NBA 2K24* Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
7 NEW The Crew: Motorfest Ubisoft
8 2 Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Bandai Namco Entertainment
9 5 Hogwarts Legacy Warner Bros. Games
10 4 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) Activision Blizzard (Corp)
11 12 Star Wars: Jedi: Survivor Electronic Arts
12 27 Resident Evil 4 (2023) Capcom USA
13 6 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom* Nintendo
14 9 Minecraft Multiple Video Game Manufacturers
15 10 Mario Kart 8* Nintendo
16 20 Rainbow Six Siege [Tom Clancy’s] Ubisoft
17 18 Gran Turismo 7 Sony (Corp)
18 14 Elden Ring Bandai Namco Entertainment
19 34 Sea of Thieves Microsoft (Corp)
20 7 Diablo IV Activision Blizzard (Corp)

Circana September 2023: Best-selling games of the year so far

Rank Title Publisher
1 1 Hogwarts Legacy Warner Bros. Games
2 2 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom* Nintendo
3 6 Madden NFL 24 [EA Sports] Electronic Arts
4 3 Diablo IV Activision Blizzard (Corp)
5 4 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) Activision Blizzard (Corp)
6 5 Star Wars: Jedi: Survivor Electronic Arts
7 NEW Starfield Microsoft (Corp)
8 NEW Mortal Kombat 1 Warner Bros. Games
9 7 Resident Evil 4 (2023) Capcom USA
10 8 MLB: The Show 23^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers
11 9 Dead Island 2 Plaion
12 10 Final Fantasy XVI Square Enix Inc (Corp)
13 11 Street Fighter 6 Capcom USA
14 NEW EA Sports FC 24 Electronic Arts
15 12 FIFA 23 [EA Sports] Electronic Arts
16 20 Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Bandai Namco Entertainment
17 15 Elden Ring Bandai Namco Entertainment
18 14 Remnant II Gearbox Publishing
19 13 Dead Space (2023) Electronic Arts
20 17 Mario Kart 8* Nintendo

https://venturebeat.com/gam...

Since I know you´ll won´t admit that Starfield is nothing but a huge commercial success despite the facts before your eyes, I would like to recommend you to not bother and reply back to me with the usual Ad Hominem or some weird mental gymnastics trying to twist reality.

Facts are facts. It is what its.

[Einhander1972]

Why are you posting Septembers numbers and not October? And circana is only NA, why don't you post WW, oh... right that doesn't produce nearly as good of a picture for you. I guess you also didn't want to show how Spider-Man 2 trounced Starfield in only 8 days.

See the thing is, Starfield sold decent at first, but it had much higher expectations which is absolutely did not live up to. Starfield sold a bunch of pre-orders then completely died sales wise.

So good job cherry picking one screenshot in time that benefited you slightly.

[shinoff2183]

If ms made a game and it sold extremely well they'd shout it from the rooftops. What's that tell ya

[MrNinosan]

Most of Starfield sales are most likely the $20 early access, and the only reason it's even on the Circana list for the year.

[dumahim]

By comparison, Baldur's Gate 3 has about 130,000 which came out a month earlier than Starfield.

[cthulhucultist]

Obscure, you are defending this number (23k) which is clearly not much given what we expected from a Triple A Bethesda new IP RPG. I think it is rather low and well below games such as Farming Simulator 22, Left 4 Dead 2 and New World.

@ Elda: You too are clearly very off with your numbers estimates.

First of all, only five games in steam reached over a million of gamers and we are talking about DOTA 2, CS, PUGB etc.

So in your opinion, only a game with millions would be considered a hit (therefore games such as Elden Ring, Baldurs gate 3 and Cyberpunk are not that successful). Also note that only PUGB had over 2 million users (3.2 million in total).

Secondly, I dont hear you speaking about the fact that the only Sony first party game that ranks in the first 200 on steam, is Spiderman remastered on position 170 with less than 7k players.

But i fully agree with you that 23k for Starfield, a long awaited exclusive from bethesda, is very low.

They should at least maintain a respectable 100k number given the past titles success which is what the article states.

[fr0sty]

I love how you guys have to try to compare Sony games sold on Steam to Starfield, as if it's even a level comparison... Those Sony games were released years after they saw release on PS5. Most people had already played and beaten them by the time they hit PC. How about we compare worldwide sales on all systems of those games? No? Doesn't produce the same results? Didn't think so.

[PhillyDonJawn]

It sold millions. It top the charts over games that did announced numbers. So while we don't know the exact amount we know it sold 7 figures by comparison.

[Barlos]

Yeah but 23k is hardly huge numbers is it? Starfield continue to grow you say, yet the number of active players is falling all the time. That's not how growth works.

If you're enjoying it then that's great but can you just stop the spin for one minute? Your relentless over the top love for everything Xbox related is really embarrassing. You can enjoy your platform of choice but your one-man Xbox defence force is too much.

[Obscure_Observer]

@Barlos

"Yeah but 23k is hardly huge numbers is it? Starfield continue to grow you say, yet the number of active players is falling all the time. That's not how growth works."

It is for a new IP that was available on PC Gamepass day one! Not to mention the game is single player which by definition numbers of active players generally will only decrease over time.

That said, once both official mod support and Shattered Space got out, you´ll that active users numbers spike again well above 23k.

Mark my words!

[XiNatsuDragnel]

That's low ball compared to juggernauts like fortnite, etc...

[Crows90]

Oh wow. Now it's 10th on Xbox...you are right...that's incredible. You'd think a 1st party would be closer to the top...not with starfield. A game meant to be played for many many years...lol

The game will continue to dwindle and be completely and utterly forgotten as a mediocre game.

But you know I forget that Xbox gamers are used to mediocrity...this is the best you guys have gotten in years.

[Obscure_Observer]

Oh wow. Now it's 10th on Xbox...you are right...that's incredible. You'd think a 1st party would be closer to the top...not with starfield.

Arrogant clowns talk a lot of ignorant and dumb sh!t all the time. I mean, how things going for Spider-Man 2 on PS5 after just one month?

Definitely NOT "closer to the top" as you said.

https://newzoo.com/resource...

We´ll see if Spider-Man 2 will be Top 10 after 3 months. Then we´ll know which game will be "forgetten" by then.

Oh almost forgot; since you said that that Xbox gamers are used to mediocrity, how does it feel having TWO Xbox first party games among PS5´s Top 10 most played games!? XD

[CombatEmu]

@Obscure

"Oh almost forgot; since you said that that Xbox gamers are used to mediocrity, how does it feel having TWO Xbox first party games among PS5´s Top 10 most played games!?"

Imagine being this incompetent that you inadvertently make a strong case that the Xbox is not a console brand anymore and is more of a 3rd party publisher brand...

[Chevalier]

"We´ll see if Spider-Man 2 will be Top 10 after 3 months. "

Spiderman is the most popular or top 3 most popular comic characters so no it won't be forgotten any time soon. It will also likely sell at least 30 million like the previous game too.

The previous Spiderman game sold more than every Bethesda game outside of what a single Bethesda game ever comes close to that? Lol

[CrashMania]

'Starfield will continue to grow and get better in the coming months and years thanks to Xbox and Bethesda continued support like it should be.'

Giving Xbox credit to this being less well received and not as commercially successfully as other Bethesda games such as fallout 4 and Skyrim, wow didn't expect that admission from you.

Also that attempted gotcha with the NPD stats doesn't mean much, it includes NA only for one, and again if it were that successful where is the hard data? Where are the sales numbers? What are MS so afraid of?

[Obscure_Observer]

Microsoft has nothing to prove for you losers.

"Giving Xbox credit to this being less well received and not as commercially successfully as other Bethesda games such as fallout 4 and Skyrim, wow didn't expect that admission from you."

It´s a NEW IP, genius! How well Death Stranding performed in comparison to Metal Gear???

You know quite well that to expect Starfield to be as successful as Bethesda´s old and established RPG IPs like Skyrim or Fallout 4 is the same as to expect the new IP from Cory to be as successful as God of War! So quit with your dumb hypocritical game already! You´re fooling no one but yourself!

Starfield release made it to the Top in Germany, US, Canada and UK so that´s cold hard facts for you!

The simple fact that Todd still maintains 55% of Bethesda´s entire team still working on the game, is nothing but further proof of Starfield success and confidence in it´s future.

You though the game would flop without Playstation, you though the game would flop been day one on Gamepass, you got crow for dinner!

Bon Appétit.

[CrashMania]

So again obscure, where are the sales numbers? Where is the significant increase in console hardware sales as a result? The significant increase in gamepass subs as a result? MS' silence on these metrics speaks volumes.

I've no doubt the game sold well on steam, and I've not once claimed the game was a commercial flop, but it certainly didn't hit the delusion highs that fanboys like you were proclaiming, otherwise it would reflect in those metrics I mentioned.

So you can take your crazy levels of fanboyism and shove it lol.

[Obscure_Observer]

"So again obscure, where are the sales numbers? Where is the significant increase in console hardware sales as a result? The significant increase in gamepass subs as a result? MS' silence on these metrics speaks volumes."

You´re kind of late to the party, dude. It´s been YEARS since MS stop and release sales numbers for *everything*!

To reveal sales numbers is most of a studio decision to make rather than MS. For instance, I´m 100% positive that Sea of Thieves sold more than 10 million copies since its release on both Xbox and PC. Did MS provided the numbers for that game? No!

We do know that Starfield sold about 2 Million early access copies, we know it´s one of the best selling games of 2023 by NPD/Circana, we know it sold about 6+ Million copies on STEAM by SteamSpy.

And here we have this dumb article stating that "Starfield might be in trouble as player numbers plummet."

If Starfield is really trouble then Sony can close shop and stop and release games on STEAM because none of their games can come close to Starfield numbers! NONE!

You can´t have it both ways, so pick your poison.

[CombatEmu]

@Obscure

First, Microsoft stopped reporting sold-to-consumer numbers. Then, it stopped reporting shipment numbers. Eventually, Microsoft even stopped reporting monthly active users numbers. The constant goalpost moving is dead giveaway that whatever efforts Microsoft has put into boosting engagement numbers aren't working.

It's what Microsoft doesn't say that speaks the loudest...

[Chevalier]

"It´s been YEARS since MS stop and release sales numbers for *everything*!"

Yeah know why? Simply because it would be negative news against Xbox and they would lose even more sales. Because their numbers are so embarrassingly bad that they just no longer want to report them.

There has only been a handful of Xbox games in the last decade that would even be worth mentioning and that's the sad truth of why we no longer get numbers. Ditto for hardware and their software sales in general.

"If Starfield is really trouble then Sony can close shop and stop and release games on STEAM because none of their games can come close to Starfield numbers! NONE!"

It's the other way around. Playstation already had their sales on console and do NOT need the Steam sales really. When games like Spiderman sell 30+ million, GoW and Horizon selling 20+ million each. So they don't depend on Steam sales.

Which Xbox game sold as much as Spiderman, GoW, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima etc?! Oh right NONE.

[Soulsborne]

Cope, seethe and cry. Pick and choose the order idc

[jwillj2k4]

“Hardly in trouble when your parent company says sales matter less than #of sandwiches collected”

/fixed

[Yui_Suzumiya]

I'm buying a Series S for Starfield next month. Up, up and away!

[anast]

Those number are low for a Bethesda game. Fallout 4 has close to those numbers and the game is ancient.

[Elda]

Again as much as MS/XB would love to brag...if Starfield sold millions it would have been known already. Again....MS/XB still has not disclosed any sales numbers of Starfield. Several thousands may have bought it on Steam while PC & XB GP subscribers mostly played Starfield through GamePass. You can be that XB & Starfield's mascot all you want to but the real deal is Starfield isn't the hit you delusionally think it is.

[ChasterMies]

“ranks at 10th most played game on Xbox after almost 3 months”

In this context, almost 3 months is 2 months and ranking 10th is objectively bad when this is the only marquee exclusive on Xbox in the last 2 years and we haven’t seen 9 big games launch on Xbox since Starfield. That means Game Pass subscribers would rather play some old game instead of Starfield.

[raWfodog]

Steam also shows a very steady and steep decline of active players since launch so the article is very accurate in that regard. But, in the games defense, almost every game has a decline in player engagement over time.

I still personally think that Starfield needs more baking for a couple of years before I even consider giving it a try. Too many other games in my backlog right now. I’m just now getting around to playing Horizon FW complete edition.

[andy85]

23k players isn't great when there was supposedly millions.

[Obscure_Observer]

@andy85

"23k players isn't great when there was supposedly millions."

Tell that to Sony and all of Playstation exclusive games like God of War and The Last of Us Part 1, including second party like Death Stranding and third party games like FFVII Remake, because none of those games can even come close to Starfield numbers on STEAM despite of PC Gamepass.

By your logic, if Starfield doesn´t have great numbers on STEAM, all of Playstation´s first, second and third party exclusives on STEAM flopped hard!

Check your metrics because you probably won´t like the results.

FYI: Starfield has 28,485 active players right now!

It is what it is. Do what you do!

[CombatEmu]

@Obscure

You do know Sony releases their 1st party games on Steam a few years after their original release, right? This is vastly different from a simultaneous launch. Had Microsoft released the PC version 2-3 years after the Xbox Series release, the player count would be much lower.

You also clearly never made it to pre-calc since you think taking the amplitude of a sinusoidal wave is the actual player count. And if you want to use Steam Charts or SteamDB, then you also need to share the game's price history... like the massive 20% discount that began on Nov. 21st.

[DickyD1226]

Starfield currently sits at 44 on steam below; Destiny 2(25), Skyrim(41), Left 4 Dead 2(38), Bauldr's Gate 3(3), 7 Days to Die(23), and GTA V (9). (the list I compiled is of old and new games. Starfield should be performing better than most of them especially Skyrim. Number I am suprised most by is destiny 2 still being so high.)

The game in all metrics has been a let down by Bethesda standards. It isn't the space epic they said it would be it was just another fall out game with more loading screens in space.

Edit: Changed have to has after the word metrics.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Are you kidding me hell even Left for Dead 2 (a 2009 game) on Steam have more players then Starfield right now most times. Starfield ain't growing bud. Keep dreaming.

[mastershredder]

Delusional Fan Brain Rot ^

You literally contribute nothing but disinformation and bull shi7.

Whatever you are trying to be in life…it’s not working.

[cthulhucultist]

@frosty: "I love how you guys have to try to compare Sony games sold on Steam to Starfield, as if it's even a level comparison... Those Sony games were released years after they saw release on PS5."

Your are of course right but that was not the point of my comment.

The fact that he finds the 23k number very low whereas even lower numbers are considered ok, as well as the notion that a game would require millions of active users (which is not feasible for the 99,9% of games) to be considered a hit.

In any case, even old games released on PC and XBOX in top 100 on charts surpass anything Sony ever released if we are being fair (Age of Empires 2 was released in 2019 Forza Horizon 4 in 2018).

The other thing we can all agree upon I think is that Starfield does not have the legs of its predecessors and that it needs heavy investment in order to attract more players (like a very good story DLC or new handcrafted planets to explore or even some mod influenced patches).

[thorstein]

It's a single player game.

People bought it. Played it. Went on to other games. That's literally the story of every SP game.

It sold well. Best selling game of September in the US.(source circana).

Will it be GOTY? Probably not. But player numbers always decline for SP games.

[Moegooner]

"That's literally the story of every SP game."

Not Bethesda older titles though.

[porkChop]

That's certainly true. Though the proper mod tools for Starfield won't be out until next year. At least on PC I wouldn't be surprised if some people are holding off until the mod scene really gets going. I think people are also waiting for some QoL updates before continuing.

[MrNinosan]

"Will in be GOTY? Probably not"
It ain't even nominated, so definitely not.

[thorstein]

It won Xbox GOTY at the Golden Joysticks. I hadn't realized that before I posted, so, I guess it is, in a way. Lulz.

[ravens52]

“This is a game that’s intentionally made to be played for a long time. One of the things we’ve learned from our previous games, like Skyrim, like Fallout, is that people want to play them for a very long time,” Ol' Tod himself. 🫠

[DarXyde]

Anecdotal, but I do still play Persona 4, Gravity Rush, and MGS1-3 on my Vita with some regularity. I'd say I beat each of them 2-3 times per year.

Sometimes, a single player game (or several) just stay with you.

I'm the exact opposite where it takes a lot for a multiplayer game to pull me in.

I get your point and perhaps I'm an exception, but maybe what keeps people playing multiplayer over single player is the varied experience/intelligent opponents. The encounters just don't feel the same and it doesn't play out in a manualized way as single player might and often does.

[thorstein]

You make excellent points and there are certainly SP games that people go back to, but there are very few that have high player counts after they've been beaten.

There will be a holiday bump. It sold well, but for the most part SP games lose players over time.

[anast]

"It's a single player game."

It's not any SP game, it's a Bethesda SP game which are prided on their longevity.

[Ryuk_2007]

I'm surprised Starfield hasn't filed a restraining order against N4G. We get at least 6 articles a week talking about how random reddit users don't like it after 100 hours or some other mumbo jumbo lmao. Rent free is an understatement.

[Hofstaderman]

When the game was hyped to the moon and back as the Series crown jewel you can bet its going to attention. Its just getting attention for being a shallow, soul crushing experience punctuated by loading screens.

[PhillyDonJawn]

It's crazy lol. Some ppl want it to fail so bad but at the same time so interested in it.

[MaximusPrime_]

Thanks goodness for No Man's Sky.

Their number of players briefly dropped when Starfield released. Now it's back up

[UltimateOwnage]

I still love me some NMS. That game keeps on giving and I keep on enjoying it.

[Johnh5223]

Wasnt people at the no mans sky office with chainsaws when the game first came out?

[sagapo]

True, but compare launch NMS with launch Starfield and you get another story.
NMS is great now, especially considering the free upgrades. Maybe Starfield will be great in time as well, who knows.

[MaximusPrime_]

NMS was made by a small team, so many free updates as their way of thanking the players.
Can't see that happening with Starfield, the most overhyped game ever.

[sagapo]

What was advertised in trailers and such (and by Sean Murray himself) compared to what we got on launch was laughable. Being a small team is no excuse for that.
Granted, they really did a very good by continuing work on the game and make it great with all the free upgrades.
I honestly have doubts as well Starfield will get the same dedication tho. But again, who knows.

[randomvoice]

Kinda weird but NMS is actually what Starfield should have strived to be when it comes to open world exploration. Heck Mass Effect did what Starfield was trying to do in a much better way more than a decade back!

[Barlos]

Get over it.

[StarkR3ality]

Yeah I mean, I can go back to Oblivion, Skyrim, any if the Fallout games and still have a good time.

While I don't hate the game as much as most do on this site, it just doesn't have the legs. They really fucked the exploration that made these worlds feel alive. Being dropped on a planet after a cut scene with the same 3 - 4 boring things to do throughout a 50+ hour playthrough is not the one.

In Skyrim you could play the game for years and still find new things, Starfield you've seen everything after the first couple of random planets you land on.

It's a okay game that's very fucking boring once you finish the story and side quests.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

But the ship building is cool. Wasn't it worth the sacrifice?

[Profchaos]

Pac man could be in trouble as numbers plummet.

Single player game loses numbers after launch window ends not unusual.

I want a fan of this game at all really I disliked it and could only stomach 4 hours but it's numbers dropping is normal so people really belive people want to play the same game all year

[Silly Mammo]

Apparently Todd Howard does

[anast]

More people play Pacman, I would bet.

[Binarycode]

They've always made garbage and over promised. It won't ever change. Difference is xbox players lap that crap up. Because they have nothing else sadly.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

I'll be taking lift-off soon because after Christmas I'm buying a Series S specifically for this.

[ironmonkey]

Well that's what you get for being exclusive. Things just don't sell well for Xbox. Kind of a norm.

[aconnellan]

Don’t Bethesda games usually sell best on PC though, because of mod support?

[Vengeance1138]

Maybe they could just fake the player numbers like that Halo Infinite article. Say something like Starfield has a billion unique player names lol

[Profchaos]

Standard ms and really most corporations take the best metric and promote it like crazy

[Tzuno]

It is a piece of poop, low iq hype.

[frostypants]

They have your money already.

[RiseNShine]

Single player game, astounding it doesn't hold players several months after release *ironic*. Had it released with mod tools like other Bethesda games number would be much higher, as it is, there's not much more to do once you've finished the existing content. Also you can't compare Skyrim, which is the fifth game of a well loved and renowned RPG saga, to a completely new game. But well, haters gonna hate.

[ChasterMies]

Starfield is a single player game. It cannot ever be in trouble.

[Rainbowcookie]

Probably true because they announced last week that 250 employees are still working on the game. This is to make sure players aren't bailing?

[thesoftware730]

Wow, Obscure owned a bunch of people in this thread with hard cold Facts, no spins, just raw truths, but y'all kept twisting and throwing feelings, guessing, hypotheticals, and fanboy logic back at him.

Wow, in the actual real world, and any true debate his facts would have been an L for all of you guys.

SF did great and will only continue to get better, we all know Bethesda games thrive off of Mod support, that is what gives them their long legs, if Skyrim didn't have it no way people would still be playing all these years later, the same will hold true to SF.

[thorstein]

I think that may have more to do with his trolling personality than spitting facts.

[thesoftware730]

I don't see the presentation of facts as trolling, I read the "counter" arguments from the other and they seemed more trolling than not.

[thorstein]

"I don't see the presentation of facts as trolling."

I didn't say anything about facts or the presentation thereof. I said that Obscure has been trolling N4G for awhile and many people here are responding to him in kind.

[__SteakDeck__]

thesoftware730 I find it hilarious that a couple of months ago you said you wasn’t an Xbox fanboy. Lol

[thesoftware730]

So acknowledging that SF did well makes me a fanboy lmao.

The logic of some of you are astounding.

I believe in Facts and he presented many, the other posters presented more of their feelings towards something, which would be an opinion, and the opinion that SF did bad is clearly wrong from Obscure's post.

[phoenixwing]

@the software
i wouldnt call cherry picking data "facts" it's more like being disingenuous. although the people on the other side for ps fanboys are almost as bad as well. Saying a single player game doesn't have a concurrent player count isn't especially bad in any way. Most people play a single player game once and move on to the next. While one and done is considered a knock on the game from fanboys of both sides i prefer one and done experiences and pay premium for quality ones. for me a quality one and done is awesome it's like the difference between drinking only a mountain of water for a meal or having a cooked steak with your choice of a small glass of liquid. any sane person would want to have the steak even if theyre spending a little more. Drinking solely water isn't very good. To me sony games are steak meals and microsoft rarely brings out any steaks themselves. Starfield doesn't live up to the hype but that's just my opinion.

TLDR: Both sides are wrong. However, starfield isn't doing as well as it was made out to be prior to release.

[Pocahontas]

Ps5 inbound lol

[RavageX]

Since when did player numbers matter more than sales? Has the game sold well should be the focus. Folks are so strange these days.

[RupeeHoarder]

Since Microsoft stopped sharing sales numbers and started showing engagement numbers. Remember the 11 million players post? It’s a joke.

[MrBaskerville]

Probably not in trouble, I think you usually sell enough to recoup the cost in the first couple of months, so they should be fine, as long as they sold millions.

[rippermcrip]

Commercial success because this was Xbox's supposed savior that everyone was waiting for forever.

Critical success only from some sites that are in Microsoft's pockets. Reviews past the first day were nothing special. Didn't even get any GOTY nominations.

[tbagmonster]

who gives a shit, go play another game, theres plenty out there.

[Sonyslave3]

It a single player game lol it did better then ff16 and it was on gamepass

[__SteakDeck__]

Keep telling yourself that. Also FF16 was only on one platform, moron. Lol

[Agent75]

People get sucked into the vids, reviews and graphics. An educated gamer should know this. Sit back and wait for these games to drop like flies in price.

[badboyz09]

Not my STARFIELD😫😫

[dveio]

So, according to some, maybe even according to "official' numbers, to all the Circana and top selling games lists that's been posted here, Starfield was a commercial success.

Arguably selling, what? 5 million copies? Maybe even 10 million? Wow, it really is.

And now it's only 20k players active.

For the promised longevity of a game that Starfield was supposed to be, promoted as a game of a generation.

I don't know, man.

[dmonee]

I haven’t read, or seen anything about Starfield that seems fun or appealing. I was looking forward to it, and had hopes that with Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda, the game would be next level. I also have a bad feeling about how elder scrolls 6 will turn out now.

[Einhander1971]

Thought this game was going to be the second coming of christ according to Xbox fanboys lol.

[FGHFGHFGH]

Regardless of if it sold well or not, it was disappointing. You can't keep disappointing fans and expect them to stay fans. Look at XBOX, years of disappointment is hard to recover from.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[purple101]

I was going to torrent it, but it wasn't even worth stealing.

[RhinoGamer88]

250 developers on it...were are the regular and quality updates?!

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

And this was supposed to be the saving grace on Xbox? This is Xbox game of year? Well considering the scraps Obscure_Observer and company have had to settle with is not hard to see why. What other games are there?

[Father__Merrin]

I've u installed the traversal and constant going into menu to travel breaks the game

[Notsofast]

what did they expect to happen even the greatest single-player games of all time drop of the map its not a big deal

[Games1st]

As expected.It's ok not great.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I don't even hear of anyone talking about this game outside of this site, everyone is still talking about BG3.

[lex-1020]

How exactly is a single-player game that's already released "in trouble?"

This isn't a GaaS game. There are no micro-transactions, no loot boxes, and no reoccurring revenue streams. It doesn't matter how many people are actively playing it.

[PhillyDonJawn]

I'm confused.

[BehindTheRows]

What exactly don’t you get?

[dveio]

@lex-1020

Starfield was in development for several years.

And was generally promoted as a game that would truly unfold its strenghts the longer you play.

Additionally: it's a game that takes place in the universe.

Which, actually by default, invites to explore the vast realms of it. What you shouldn't be able to finish quickly.

As for the argument being a single player game: I don't really think it's an argument you would want to go into.

Again because of the reasons mentioned above already, but also because in question of how you would then explain the longevity of games only in respect to their story and exploration in it.

Lke GTA, RDR, the Souls series, Elden Ring, etc.

First and foremost, this are all single player driven games that are able to keep the players playing solely by their campaign.

Now I don't want to really compare GTA with Starfield in terms of reputation, but in terms of seemingly endless opportunities of how to build an always-inviting/-exploring game world.

And here I really do think a game set in the universe has FAR more opportunities to build and interesting enough setting than a Manhattan-like rebuilt city.

Just have a look at the latest No Man's Sky version: it's mind boggling how much time you can spend in No Man's Sky today without even progressing ANY main or side missions.

The level of exploring, in direct comparison with Starfield, and the gameplay design itself, e.g. actually starting from/landing on planets, warping, learning languages (even if rudimentary), starship freighters, searching for S class starships, discovering ruines, fauna, flora, abandoned settlers, crashed starships, and actually providing one of the best laid out crafting systems in terms of handling (and educating to some degree) and combining chemical Elements is just fascinating.

Starfield misses out on so many things.

Maybe with the exception of some haters, I truly believe everyone would have loved Starfield to have hit the earth with a 90+ rating.

Can you imagine the enjoyment and freedom in gameplay of a space game that geniuenly hits a consistant, let's say 94 meta- and opencritic score?

THIS would truly have been amazing.

There is not just a fine line between an 80's score and a 94. It's a huge gap. Not by the number, but in terms of quality. If Starfield had hit with a 94, people would be crazy about playing the game everytime they can.

Starfield delivered - but also underdelivered in many ways. Which is sad if you truly think about it. It's a lost opportunity.

A lost opportunity building a strong foundation for a big AAA, space driven game on console (it's a different picture on PC). Maybe even becoming the GTA-esque IP of an AAA space game there.

Starfield ist not bad at all, but it IS what it is.

A 83 and 7.0 user rated AAA space game on meta, with plummeting active players, except selling arguably millions and being released only two full months ago.

Which by any means is no verdict in itself, but really just talking facts.

[Ironmike]

All single player games numbers drop