Starfield Exceeds 1 Million Concurrent Players on Launch Day

The milestone includes people playing Starfield on Xbox Series X/S consoles, as well as on PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store.
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Starfield, the new RPG from Bethesda Game Studios, has seen over 1 million players actively playing the game at the same time on its launch day, 6 September 2023. That’s according to Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, who shared the data shortly before the date ticked over for US Eastern Standard Time.

Starfield exceeded 1 million concurrent players across all platforms today. Thanks to all the players who helped us reach this great milestone and congrats to the @BethesdaStudios,” he wrote. The platforms include Xbox Series X/S, as well as PC via Steam, and the Microsoft Store.

6 September isn’t technically the launch day for Starfield however, since those who purchased a premium edition of the game received early access to the title five days prior, on 1 September 2023. However, 6 September 2023 marks the day that the standard edition goes on sale, as well as its launch on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, the company’s subscription services.

It’s likely the handy nature of the Xbox Game Pass version, which can be accessed for as low as US $9.99 per month, contributed to this enormous number.

Read: Starfield Guide – 5 Quick Tips To Remember Before You Start

It’s unclear at this time how many of these players purchased the game outright, but we know that at least 230,000 concurrent Starfield players were registered on the Steam version during its early access period, and the Xbox version quickly topped the Top Paid Games on the Xbox Store during this time, too.

For comparison’s sake, the fastest-selling game of all time is still seemingly Grand Theft Auto 5, which sold over 11 million copies in its first 24 hours of sale.

In the GamesHub review of Starfield, we awarded the game a 4-star score, praising its art direction, environment design, and engaging combat systems. However, we were disappointed with the strange and cumbersome nature of its space travel, which undermined the game’s sense of grand scale.

Starfield is available now on Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Xbox Game Pass.

Edmond was the founding managing editor of GamesHub. He was also previously at GameSpot for 13 years, where he was the Australian Editor and an award-winning video producer. You can follow him @EdmondTran