Todd Howard Says Starfield Is Optimized For PC; “You May Need To Upgrade”

In short, "it just works."

By Najam Ul Hassan September 7, 2023

Story Highlights

During an interview with Bloomberg Technology, Todd Howard addressed worries regarding Starfield’s PC optimization, asserting that the game has been thoroughly optimized and runs great on next-gen PCs.
In order to achieve a smooth frame rate and fully indulge in complex ship-building mechanics with maximum settings, a powerful PC is recommended.

During a recent interview with Bloomberg Technology, Ed Ludlow posed a question to Todd Howard regarding the optimization of Starfield for PC. In response, Howard emphasized that the game has indeed been optimized, pushing technologies. Furthermore, he advised players to upgrade their PCs should any issues arise.

Ed Ludlow: Why did you not optimize this game for PC?

Todd Howard: We did, it’s running great. It is a next-gen PC game, we really do push the technology, so you may need to upgrade your PC for this game, but it’s got a lot of great stuff going on in it and the fans are responding awesome.

While this response may not fully satisfy players dissatisfied with Starfield’s PC performance, the initial release of the game seems to be in a notably improved state compared to Bethesda’s previous RPGs. The decision to delay the game twice for additional polishing likely played a role in this improvement. Additionally, Todd Howard suggests that the focus on Xbox console exclusivity further enhanced Starfield’s quality compared to a multi-platform release.

Just like Bethesda’s previous open-world RPGs, Starfield is quite CPU-intensive compared to other AAA games. This is largely due to its complex ship and outpost building mechanics that offer extensive creativity. To achieve a smooth frame rate with maximum settings, a powerful PC is recommended.

Nonetheless, a modder has made a “Potato Mode” mod, which reduces the texture quality giving options from 16 to 256 bits, resulting in significant VRAM savings. This allows players to optimize their gaming experience by utilizing fewer memory resources without compromising the overall visual quality.

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With the release of future updates and patches, these issues might be tackled one way or the other. Only time will tell if the PC optimization issues fans experienced will be resolved or not.

Starfield launched on Steam and Xbox Series X|S on September 6, 2023.

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