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Starfield hits 6m players to become "biggest Bethesda game launch" ever

UPDATE: Blasts past 10m.

A Starfield screenshot showing a spaceship in orbit around an eclipsed planet.
Image credit: Bethesda

UPDATE 20/9/23: Starfield's total player count has now blasted past 10 million, developer Bethesda has said.

Xbox shared the news last night, following a tumultuous day for Microsoft after an eye-opening set of leaks that it ultimately dubbed as outdated.

"Thank you to more than 10 million Starfield explorers for creating the biggest launch in Bethesda history," the game's official account on X, formerly Twitter, posted - repeating the same record the game broke just over a week ago, when it hit six million players.

Starfield is available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S, and of course is on Xbox Game Pass, where millions of players have dipped their toes in.


ORIGINAL STORY 11/9/23: More than six million people have now played Starfield.

That makes Starfield the "biggest Bethesda game launch of all time", according to a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The suggestion is that a Bethesda game has never hit six million players in so quick a timeframe. On the one hand, it has done so with the help of Xbox Game Pass. On the other, it has done so without the PlayStation audience.

Our latest look at Starfield gameplay footage.Watch on YouTube

Earlier this week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer noted that Starfield had exceeded a million concurrent players across all platforms - including those playing on Steam, where numbers are publicly visible.

Around 250,000 players have been playing Starfield on Steam at its daily concurrent user peak - a figure which hasn't changed much since the game launched via early access last week, suggesting the majority of players there were eager to dive in early.

Many more will have joined this week upon the game's regular release - including those awaiting its arrival to give it a quick try on Game Pass.

If you're just setting out on your journey or already a seasoned traveller, our Starfield walkthrough will help you on your way.

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