Summary
StarfieldhasBaldur’s Gate 3beat in one major stat, total hours played. While many consider the Dungeons and Dragons-like RPG to be superior toStarfieldin many ways, a couple of factors led the Bethesda game to outperformBaldur’s Gate 3in a key category.
For some Bethesda fans, the studio’s newest game did not live up to the hype, asStarfield’s Steam rating continues to fall. The ambitious sci-fi game was still impressive in many regards, but failed to keep users' attention due to problems like extensive loading screens, disappointing cities, and procedural generation. It didn’t help thatBaldur’s Gate 3released shortly beforeStarfield, with the former becoming regarded as one of the best RPG games ever made. However,Starfieldcan still hang its hat on one impressive statistic.
After Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3 each released their total playtime statistics, it became apparent thatStarfield’s total playtime of 534,823,944 hours easily outpacedBaldur’s Gate 3’s total playtime of 452,556,984 hours, despiteBaldur’s Gate 3releasing a month earlier. It should be noted that Bethesda reported its playtime hours forStarfieldon December 20, and Larian Studios reported its playtime hours forBaldur’s Gate 3on December 5th, bringing the month-long gap between the two games' time in the market closer to half a month in regard to this statistic. So, while it’s not a perfectly fair comparison, the significant difference between the two games' total playtime is likely still true. It should also be emphasized thatBaldur’s Gate 3’s 452 million hours of playtime is still a massive number and incredibly impressive, despite falling short ofStarfield’s playtime, which benefited from a couple of factors.
Starfield vs. Baldur’s Gate 3 Total Playtime Statistics
The sci-fi RPG was so highly anticipated thatStarfield’s launch broke records for Bethesda, amassing over six million players in one day. However,Starfield’s weaknesses led to the game being unable to maintain this momentum.
Less than three months after its launch,Starfieldhad fewer players thanSkyrimon Steam. Bethesda’sSkyrimwas released in 2011, and although the older title is one of the most popular RPGs in recent memory, this is still a somewhat embarrassing stat forStarfield. At the time of writing, this gap has only grown on Steam, asSkyrim’s Special Edition’s 24-hour peak of over 27,000 players easily outpacesStarfield’s 24-hour peak of over 13,000 players.
Starfield
WHERE TO PLAY
Starfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity’s greatest mystery.The year is 2330. Humanity has ventured beyond our solar system, settling new planets, and living as a spacefaring people. From humble beginnings as a space miner, you will join Constellation – the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy – and navigate the vast expanse of the Settled Systems in Bethesda Game Studios’ biggest and most ambitious game.
