Starfield Decline Could Be Stopped With PS5 Release

There are rumors that Starfield -- alongside other Xbox games -- is coming to PS5. Whether these rumors are true or not, we should find out at the Xbox event this coming week. That said, if it does, it could be exactly what Bethesda needs to stop the game's decline. As PCGamesN notes, the game has lost 97 percent of its Steam players since its release last year. In isolation, this drop off for a single-player game isn't that bad, but there is context. 

The first bit of context is that Bethesda Game Studios' releases typically retain players over a long period of time due to the massive amount of content in their games, the replayability of their games, and the robust mod scene. Don't just take our word though. Over on Steam, Fallout 4 had a peak concurrent player count of over 22,000 in the last 24 hours. That's pretty good for a game that is nine calendar years old. It is an achievement that makes Starfield look bad though, as its 24-hour peak is just half of that at 11,000. 

Let's throw in some more comparisons. Cyberpunk 2077 is also an RPG, and a year older. However, the release of Phantom Liberty and post-launch support means it has peaked at over 43,000 on Steam in the last 24 hours. Red Dead Redemption 2 is even older, and had almost a 50,000 peak. Fellow 2023 RPG Baldur's Gate 3 came out a month earlier, but is dwarfing Starfield with a peak of 166,000 in the last 24 hours. 

Starfield is available via Xbox Game Pass though, so it's safe to assume many are playing it on Xbox Series X and via the Windows Store as opposed to Steam. Well, it is only the 25th most-played game on there at the moment, behind older titles like Assassin's Creed Valhalla. In fact, this is only spot better than the very old For Honor. 

It is hard to say how exactly Starfield is doing, but it is obviously not great. No one is really even talking about the game six months later. A PS5 release could not only inject the game with new players, but get those on Xbox Series X and PC interested and invested again. Add some DLC to this, and you have some synergy cooking. Maybe that is the plan. If that isn't the plan though, the future of the sci-fi RPG doesn't particularly look great when you consider all the context, including how important the release was for Xbox this generation.