Starfield Surpasses Gaming Records, Lands Among Steam's Top 10 Most Played Games Pre-Launch
Starfield, Bethesda's highly anticipated game, makes a remarkable entry into the top 10 most-played Steam games even before its official release, showcasing the immense success it's bound to achieve
Highlights
Starfield has already become one of the most-played games on Steam, proving that Bethesda has another massive hit on its hands.
With its exceptional player base, the RPG has reached a remarkable milestone of 248,632 concurrent players, ranking it as the sixth most popular game on Steam. Early access data strongly indicates that Starfield has the capability to achieve a monumental game launch in 2023, potentially outperforming Bethesda's previous success on Steam.
Starfield has already made it into the top 10 most-played games on Steam even before its official release. This achievement is a clear indication that Bethesda has another hugely successful game on its hands, just as the early reviews of Starfield had already hinted. Although the highly anticipated RPG is set to be fully released on September 6, those who purchased the Premium Edition of Starfield have had access to early gameplay since September 1.
Top 10 Most Played Steam Games on September 5, 2023
Starfield has quickly gained popularity, becoming one of the top 10 most-played games on Steam. According to SteamDB, the RPG has achieved a peak of 248,632 concurrent players. This impressive figure positions Starfield as the sixth most-played game on Valve's platform, even before its official release. Among the games that currently rank higher, all except one are free-to-play. The exception is the renowned Steam success, Baldur's Gate 3.
However, unlike Baldur's Gate 3 which was initially exclusive to PC for a month, Starfield has been made available in early access on current-generation Xbox consoles since its release. It's worth noting that Xbox Game Pass members have had the opportunity to play Starfield early by adding a $34.99 Premium Edition upgrade to their subscription on either platform. As a result, the number of early adopters for this RPG could be significantly higher than the recent data suggests. This is especially true because SteamDB can only track publicly visible player profiles, and PC gamers can also obtain Starfield through the Microsoft Store.
Starfield's initial Steam momentum matches the success of recent highly popular launches on the platform. For instance, during its early access period in February, Hogwarts Legacy had over 400,000 PC players playing at the same time. It quickly exceeded that number and reached its peak at 879,308 players within two days of its official release. Assuming Starfield follows a similar ratio of Premium to Standard Edition purchases, it is estimated to reach half a million simultaneous players on Steam in the coming days.
If this prediction becomes a reality, Starfield will surpass Fallout 4 as Bethesda's largest-ever Steam launch. Fallout 4 held the record with a peak of 472,962 players simultaneously five days after its launch in November 2015. Furthermore, Starfield's early progress on the platform is already approaching The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, which reached its all-time peak of 287,411 concurrent players on Steam. These promising early access statistics suggest that Bethesda's first new IP since 1994 is on track to become one of the biggest game launches of 2023.
Starfield launches September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: SteamDB
