- Starfield has lost a majority of its players in less than four months.
- While the game just reached 13 million total players, the player count on Steam is rapidly declining.
- The studio has announced various updates for 2024, which could help the game recover.
Starfield is reaching new milestones every other month. In early December, Phil Spencer confirmed it had reached 12 million players, but the game has already soared to 13 million players today.
Still, the Steam numbers tell a different story. The game’s player count on the platform has been dwindling for a while, and December has brought another big decline in Starfield’s concurrent players.
Why it matters: Longevity is a major theme for every Bethesda release. Todd Howard has already outlined hopes for the game to last many years, and the developer has begun to release updates to keep players engaged.
According to SteamDB, Starfield has just under 7K players at the moment. A maximum of 13,923 concurrent players were recorded in the last 24 hours, making it a stark contrast from last month.
In November, the game had as many as 40K players on its best days, often hitting the 30K player count. However, the title peaked at just 26,647 concurrent players in December.
Meanwhile, a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 is still going strong on the platform. While this CRPG was averaging around 130K players last month, SteamDB shows the player count for Baldur’s Gate 3 has only gone up in December after it won Game of the Year.
Therefore, both games show a very different trajectory. While Starfield pleased many fans in the beginning, it seems to have lost momentum, with many claiming the RPG is just a mediocre take on Bethesda’s old formula.
Last month, the game already fell behind Skyrim’s player count on Steam. This gap has only widened in December, with Skyrim still retaining most of its legacy players that stayed around over the years.
Starfield has various problems that may have contributed to this sudden decline in players. Apart from the aging game design, unsatisfying gunplay, and shallow RPG mechanics, the title ultimately fails to fulfill the fantasy of exploring a vast universe.
The choice to include 1000 planets, while good on paper, harms the game overall. When most locations have little to give, players are immediately discouraged from straying further into the barren depths of space.
Despite the statistics, we believe Starfield can still make a comeback.
Bethesda’s commitment to the game is clear, with various updates announced for 2024. The studio is teasing new means of traversal, possibly pointing to more changes that address the core deficiencies of this ambitious RPG.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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