Starfield Crosses 11 Million Players; Gives Major Boost To Game Pass Subs

Starfield has been monumental for Xbox in every sense of the word. Not only is the Bethesda RPG set in space, featuring more than a whopping 1,000 planets to explore and get into, but it’s also done remarkably well in terms of being a commercial hit. Along these lines, a recent Microsoft earnings conference call has gone over some of the milestones achieved by Starfield following its release, and the numbers are looking pretty here. 

Addressing the audience during the stream, Satya Nadella — Microsoft’s CEO — has expressed his confidence in the Starfield IP, not to mention the sheer relief for the company as a whole on the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King coming to a close after a long, hard, strenuous battle, which even led confidential Microsoft documents to leak out in the open out of nowhere.

We were delighted to close our acquisition of Activision Blizzard King earlier this month. Together, we will advance our goal of bringing great games to players everywhere – and on any endpoint. Already, with Game Pass, we’re redefining how games are distributed, played, and discovered. We set a record for hours played per subscriber this quarter. We released Starfield this quarter to broad acclaim. More than 11 million people have played the game to date. Nearly half of hours played have been on PC, and on launch day, we set a record for the most Game Pass subscriptions added on a single day ever.” 

As of now, therefore, Starfield has crossed more than 11 million players. This is a significant bump from our last report on the matter, which was back in early September. Additionally, the game has propelled Xbox Game Pass to even greater heights, enticing many to subscribe to the service substantially. Satya has also cast a lens on the company’s standing as a whole, talking about some of the successes of its other games and studios, such as Minecraft, which recently crossed 300 million sales.

Minecraft has now surpassed 300 million copies sold. And, with Activision Blizzard King, we will now add significant depth to our content portfolio. We will have 13 billion dollar-plus franchises – from Candy Crush, Diablo, and Halo, to Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, and Gears of War.

On the other side of the coin, though, Starfield isn’t doing so well on Steam as of late, with the charts seeing a steady decline in concurrent player count with the passage of time. At present, the game’s clocking in about 28,000 players, but the trends show that the player count decreases every day. It’s probable that much of the space RPG’s success has to do with it being on Xbox Game Pass. 

Related Content to Check Out: 

• Bethesda Dev Explains How Starfield’s Got Over 100 Star Systems
• Starfield Was The Second-Best Selling Title In Germany During Its Launch Month
• Baldur’s Gate 3 Surpassed Starfield As The Most-Played Game On Steam Deck Last Month

Starfield was released on September 6, 2023, for the Xbox Series X|S and PC through Game Pass and Steam. In eXputer’s review, Asad Ahmed rated it 3.5/5, shedding light on its exploration, combat, storyline, performance, and more. If you’re a new player just getting started with the title, here’s how to rename your ship in Starfield, followed by this guide on all powers and effects in the game to help you out.