Xbox says Starfield topped 1 million concurrent players on launch day

Starfield topped one million concurrent players on its official launch day, according to Microsoft’s head of gaming.

Following a five-day early access period for customers who pre-ordered Starfield’s Premium Edition or Constellation Edition, Bethesda’s new IP was released on September 6 for Xbox Series X/S, PC via Windows and Steam, and Game Pass.

“Starfield exceeded 1 million concurrent players across all platforms today,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer said on Wednesday. “Thanks to all the players who helped us reach this great milestone and congrats to the Bethesda Game Studios.”

A breakdown of which platforms players were using at the time wasn’t provided.

Starfield hit over 230,000 concurrent players in its first two hours on Steam when its early access period launched last week.

The game’s peak concurrent player count on Steam surpassed 269,000 after it went on general sale on Wednesday.

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In November 2021, Microsoft said Forza Horizon 5 had achieved the biggest launch in Xbox history, attracting more than 10 million players in its first week.

Starfield director Todd Howard recently said the game’s Xbox console exclusivity resulted in the creation of a better product.

“When you’re making something exclusive then the more you can focus,” he told the BBC. “You know this is the hardware or the thing people are playing on, so the ability to focus on that always yields a better product.”

Further reading

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Critical reception to the game has been largely positive, with the Xbox Series X/S and PC versions currently sitting on Metacritic scores of 86 and 87 respectively.

VGC’s Starfield review called it “the ultimate Bethesda game”, saying it “takes what people loved about Fallout and Skyrim and casts it across an enormous galaxy”.