Starfield released four months ago, on the 6th of September 2023. Thus, enough time has passed to see it for what it truly was. Despite being touted as, the exclusive that would save Xbox,’ and, ‘the game to bring Bethesda into the next generation,’ in the end, Starfield came and went while having about as much impact as a fart in the wind.
Fallout 3 and Skyrim were games that defined a generation, while Starfield is a game that failed to even define the measly two weeks that I spent playing it, before swiftly moving on to something more interesting. After looking at the number of active users still playing the game on SteamBase, it seems like I was not the only one to jump ship soon after release.
How the mighty have fallen…
It is hard not to look at this as a significant fall from grace, given the strong start that Starfield was perceived to be enjoying upon launch. The decision to launch day one on Game Pass was lauded, users playing on Steam were plentiful, and Bethesda posted images on its social media pages boasting about all of the launch records that the game was breaking.
For Starfield to go from those heights to now pulling lower numbers than vintage titles like Fallout 4 and Skyrim is just sad. No harm to Dave the Diver, but even that collection of shovel-ware minigames is sustaining a higher player count on Steam than Starfield is. Needless to say, things are looking rather dire for the space RPG.
Starfield is in need of the galaxy’s help
Luckily, Starfield is the type of game that lends itself very nicely to the modding community. Past Bethesda titles have thrived for years on mods and there is no reason that Starfield won’t do the same. While mods alone could be enough to rebuild Starfield’s player base, it does lead one to wonder how much merit there is in a game that relies so heavily on its online community to make it fun, rather than its team of qualified developers.
Thankfully, there is an area in which the development team at Bethesda can directly improve the overall Starfield experience and this is within the upcoming Shattered Space DLC expansion. Bethesda has been able to churn out a few memorable story DLCs in the past, so hopefully Shattered Space will be able to do for Starfield what Phantom Liberty recently did for Cyberpunk 2077.
Frankly something needs to be done sooner, rather than later. Almost all of the goodwill that gamers had left for Bethesda for nostalgic reasons has dried up at this point. The fact that Starfield’s active player numbers are being trounced by indie titles and games that are over a decade old is embarrassing.
The one caveat that one should bear in mind is that fact that Starfield isn’t just a Steam game. It has also been available on Game Pass from day one, so the Steam stats don’t necessarily represent every active player. Unfortunately though, Steam user reviews have not been favorable lately, landing Starfield with a ‘mostly negative’ overall rating.
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