Starfield surpasses 6 million players to become Bethesda's best launch yet, beating Skyrim and Fallout

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Skyrim reportedly sold over three million copies in two days

Starfield companions - Lin
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield has surpassed six million players on launch day, making it the biggest Bethesda launch of all time.

Bethesda announced the figure yesterday, September 7, right after Starfield launched in full. Six million players at launch make Starfield the biggest Bethesda launch of all time, even if it skipped out launching on PlayStation platforms entirely.

You can probably attribute this record-breaking launch to Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. All subscribers to the services would've bagged Starfield earlier this week on September 6 at launch, nearly a week after early access players would've had access on September 1.

It'd be interesting to see a breakdown of how many people outright purchased Starfield, versus how many played it via Xbox Game Pass. Bethesda and Xbox obviously aren't putting out statistics about that, unfortunately, but Starfield did rack up over 200,000 concurrent players at launch, all of whom would've purchased the game in full.

Skyrim reportedly sold nearly three and a half million copies in two days back in 2011. If just over half of Starfield's player base outright purchased the RPG rather than get it on Xbox Game Pass, it would have effectively surpassed Skyrim's launch sales. Additionally, Bethesda has implied Starfield has beaten Fallout 4's launch sales, although there's no hard data online about that game's day-one sales.

Elsewhere on September 6, Starfield blazed past one million concurrent players across all platforms. All things considered, it certainly looks like the Xbox Series X/S console exclusive is off to a flying start.

Currently, Starfield fashionistas are getting their worlds rocked by one of the best early-game armor sets looking pretty rubbish.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.