Starfield came out to a lot of hype, with many calling it the best Xbox exclusive and one of Bethesda’s best RPGs. However, it seems some of that success isn’t making its way towards Steam, as the sci-fi RPG has a lower player base than Bethesda’s own Skyrim.
PCGamesN has confirmed that Skyrim currently has more concurrent players than Starfield does. At the time of writing, Starfield has 26,705 players while Skyrim beats it by 26,793, which is a small margin but still a real one.
To be fair, this is a technicality, as the Skyrim player base is comprised of the original release from 2011 and the more recent Special Edition. Since we’re being technical, Special Edition has an overall peak of 23,828, while the original version of the game has 2,965.
Just to be clear, Starfield technically has more players if we count both versions of Skyrim as separate games. However, since they are both versions of the same RPG, it’s fair to say that this game still has more overall players, which is somewhat surprising.
Now, to be fair, a good number of Starfield players are probably on Game Pass, which is available on both Xbox Series and PC. While we don’t know the numbers on the Xbox service, there’s definitely a large amount of users playing the sci-fi RPG there.
Obviously, Starfield is far from a failure and should still be celebrated as one of Xbox’s best exclusives in years. However, it seems that the initial “Oblivion in space” appeal that fans sold themselves on may have worn off. Thankfully, there are improvements coming to the title, as DLC is planned, with additional stories for players to take part in.
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Both Starfield and Skyrim can be purchased on Xbox Series and PC platforms. Skyrim is also readily available on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.