Starfield has less players on Steam than Skyrim, oof

Starfield promised so much – unrivalled space adventures, depth unlike anything we’ve ever seen from Bethesda, and even more realistic romances. Yet it fell short. One of the most hyped games of the year and it’s barely ever mentioned within gaming circles, understandably so, considering Starfield has fewer players than Skyrim.

It could be argued that the number of players isn’t representative of how well a game is doing; plenty of games are cult classics because of a very specific and dedicated fandom. Unfortunately for Starfield, this isn’t the case here. By taking a look at the number of Steam players for both Starfield and Skyrim, it’s clear that Bethesda’s newest game experienced a severe drop in interest, while the same devs’ 12-year-old RPG has seen three months of consistent, sustained interest.

Ignore all the noise and just enjoy the majestry of Inon Zur performing the music from Starfield

All in all, it’s bad.

In fairness, Baldur’s Gate 3 has also seen a decline from Steam users since its launch, though the decrease isn't nearly as aggressive. What is more, with BG3 in the running for Game of The Year, nobody is forgetting or calling out the game for lacklustre experiences anytime soon; here I’d like to add that Starfield has essentially been snubbed by the GOTY nominations. Another big oof.

“I'm done with Bethesda after Starfield,” stated one gamer when looking other these new stats on Reddit. “I said I was done after Fallout 76 but decided f**k it for Starfield...this is supposed to be the game Todd's been wanting to make forever. Todd's vision of Bethesda games no longer aligns with anything fun or interesting to me. And even though I've been sceptical since Skyrim, I'm really f**king sick and tired of his lies, over-hype, under-delivery, etc.”

Fans aren’t mincing words, and while you could argue that this is just one zealous fan, it would be a flimsy argument at best – the whole Reddit thread is filled with similar comments. There’s less swearing, but the sentiment is still the same. Starfield has had graphics overhauls to try and improve its chances, though its latest update made the game even worse, arguably influencing some of the reactions from gamers. Fans wanted more. They expected more. Yet what they got didn’t match up.

So players return to Skyrim, a game which allowed Todd Howard, Bethesda executive producer, to bank “goodwill” that he’s “still borrowing from” over a decade later. Going to add another oof here because wow, the players aren’t holding back, in their words or in their lack of downloads.