2 weeks Ago
Starfield Microsoft said that Starfield was the most-played Bethesda game ever at launch, boosted, no doubt, by its day-one inclusion on Xbox Game Pass, in addition to it being for sale on Steam. That release was back in 2023, and that was before Microsoft had quadrupled down on its “nothing is off the table” for multiplatform release strategy. So far, that has meant new IPs like Avowed (yes, based on Pillars of Eternity) and Starfield have stayed away from PlayStation, but given where things are now, it seems like only a matter of time.
This week, fans began to read into what was either a slip-up or an error on the Starfield Creations website that showed at least one mod, now deleted, as having a PS logo as well as Xbox and PC. Many fans took that as a sign and that maybe it was a beta test for the concept. Others don’t know what to think.
I’m not sure if something like that counts at all as explicit proof, but the more Microsoft dives into its new multiplatform plan, the more likely it seems like Starfield will have to make it to PS5, and maybe even Switch 2 when it arrives, eventually. Given everything that’s happened here, it stands to reason that Microsoft would definitely like a few million more sales for Starfield, based on how things have gone. While it may not be able to be classified as a failure, it was not exactly the blockbuster release anyone was hoping for outside of that initial bragging point about its total player numbers.
So, what’s the idea here? Starfield Starfield gathered loads of its players from Xbox Game Pass, and while it may have driven a number of subscriptions (we don’t know how many), that meant forgoing potentially millions of sales on the platform. With Xbox selling half or a third as many PS5s, the console base is just not big enough to produce meaningful sales paired with Game Pass. But a release on PS5, not on a subscription service, would indeed likely find millions of sales, even probably two years after release.
Starfield interest has more or less flatlined, and even with mods, PC numbers are low, peaking at 4,000 concurrent players a night when it launched with 330,000. The release of its big Shattered Space expansion barely moved the needle, getting it to 22,000 concurrent briefly, less than 10% of the original launch. PS5 or Switch 2 would drive a whole new wave of engagement.
Starfield has more ongoing content plans. We don’t know exactly what that will be, but it seems that at least one more Shattered Space-style expansion is likely coming, and that may be a good moment to launch on another platform like PS5, if it would mean that all players would be getting new content at the same time. This may not have been the original plan with Starfield, and Microsoft said as much back during its court case about the Activision acquisition.
But things have changed since then, and now this just feels like a matter or time, for better or worse. Follow me on Twitter , YouTube , Bluesky and Instagram . Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy .
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