Starfield surpassed one million concurrent gamers on its official launch day, according to Microsoft's chief of gaming.
The new IP from Bethesda was made available on September 6 for Xbox Series X/S, PC through Windows and Steam, and Game Pass after a five-day early access period for those who pre-ordered Starfield's Premium Edition or Constellation Edition.
Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said on Wednesday, "Starfield exceeded 1 million concurrent players across all platforms today." Thank you to everyone who played and congratulations to Bethesda Game Studios for reaching this important milestone.
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 https://t.co/5jFaCyPz4G
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) September 7, 2023
There was no breakdown of the platforms that players were using at the time. When Starfield's early access phase began last week, it had over 230,000 concurrent players in the first two hours on Steam. After it went on general sale on Wednesday, the game's top concurrent player count on Steam surpassed 269,000.
Microsoft reported in November 2021 that Forza Horizon 5 had the most successful launch in Xbox ever, with more than 10 million gamers in its first week. Todd Howard, the director of Starfield, recently stated that the game's Xbox system exclusivity resulted in a superior product.
He told the BBC, "The more you can focus when you're making something exclusive." "You know this is the hardware or the thing people are playing on, so the ability to focus on that always yields a better product," the speaker said.
The game's critical reception has been very excellent, with Metacritic scores of 86 and 87 for the Xbox Series X/S and PC editions, respectively.