Summary
Starfieldhas cracked the top 10 most-played games on Steam before it’s even released. The achievement indicates that Bethesda has another massive hit on its hands, much likeearlyStarfieldreviewsalready suggested.
The full-fledged release of the much-anticipated RPG is scheduled for September 6. However, anyone who paid for thePremium Edition ofStarfieldhas been able to play it in early access since September 1.
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Enough people did so forStarfieldto promptly crack the top 10 most-played games on Steam. The RPG has so far peaked at 248,632 concurrent players, according to data compiled by SteamDB. That figure placesStarfieldas the sixth most-played game on Valve’s platform less than 24 hours ahead of its official release. Every other title currently above it is free-to-play, with the sole exception of thehistoric Steam hit that isBaldur’s Gate 3.
Top 10 Most Played Steam Games on June 12, 2025
But whileBaldur’s Gate 3spent over a month as a PC exclusive,Starfieldhas also been available in early access on current-generation Xbox consoles from day one. Another important factor to consider is thatXbox Game Pass members have been able to playStarfieldearlyby pairing their subscriptions with a $34.99 Premium Edition upgrade on either platform. The RPG’s early adopter demographic is thus feasibly much larger than what this newly surfaced data suggests, especially given how SteamDB can only track publicly visible player profiles and given the fact that PC gamers can also pick upStarfieldvia the Microsoft Store.
Starfield’sinitial Steam momentum is in the same ballpark as some other recent massively successful launches on the platform. For example,Hogwarts Legacyhad over 400,000 concurrent PC players during its early access period in February. It more than doubled that figure before long, peaking at 879,308 players within two days of its official release. Assuming Bethesda’s latest RPG enjoys a similar ratio of Premium to Standard Edition purchases, it’s bound to reach half a million concurrent Steam players in the days ahead.
Should that come to pass,Starfieldwill become Bethesda’s biggest-ever Steam launch. That title is currently held byFallout 4, which peaked at 472,962 simultaneous players five days into its November 2015 launch.Starfield’searly momentum on the platform is also already closing in onThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, whose all-time Steam player peak sits at 287,411. This promising early access data indicates that Bethesda’s first new IP since 1994 is on course to become one of the biggest game launches of 2023.
Starfieldlaunches September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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