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[JackMcGunns]

I was one of those

Subbed for a month to play Starfield. Ended up being disapointed by it, never finished, and I'm not paying for GP anymore.

So I'm part of the 11M and I'm also one of those who subbed, despite not having the subscription anymore.

Looking from my pov, those are shit metrics. 'Cause I played it, but didnt enjoy it and didnt pay 70 dollars for it, so MS only got my subscription fee. I'm also not subbed anymore to GP, so it would be more meaningful to know how many of those subscribers are still using GP.

Its like Netflix: many people sub when a new Stranger Things seasons comes out. Does that mean that they will stay subscribed after watching it? Nah, so this metrics sucks

The game is actually pretty damn good, if you subbed for a month just to try it and didn't like it, then that's the beauty of Game Pass, you don't have to sink $70 and now have to find a way to sell the disc because the game wasn't to your liking, you instead have hundreds of other game to try while your subscription is active. I find it hard to believe you didn't find anything else worth keeping Game Pass for, but even if I choose to believe your story, it's merely an anecdote. If there's a game out there that deserves $70 or a subscription, it's Starfield, the amount of content is just mind boggling, I've sunk more hours into Starfield than all the games this generation combined and I'm not done with it.

 

[Three]

Mostly wondering about the game pass sub stat, was that something MS revealed? Would be interested in the methodology to figure that out if it’s not public.

Has he estimated those? I haven't seen that or his methodology. I'd imagine that would be difficult with a large min/max difference since we've only got official data about 3 times over a long period of time.

 

[NEbeast]

They explicitly stopped doing the $1 for new accounts before Starfield came out, for game pass.

Again, there was a topic about it on GAF and all, surprised you missed it.

News - Rumor - Microsoft has apparently eliminated the $1 Xbox Game Pass trial once again, just before the release of Starfield

Today: Earlier this month:

www.neogaf.com

Any new game pass sign ups that were made on Starfield's release were genuine PC/console or Ultimate sign ups.

I guess I did. It really doesn't change my point though, how many only signed up for the month and then cancelled? Getting people into the service and staying there is surely the goal. Having people sign up for a month when a big game releases and then cancel defeats the purpose of a sub service.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I was one of those

Subbed for a month to play Starfield. Ended up being disapointed by it, never finished, and I'm not paying for GP anymore.

So I'm part of the 11M and I'm also one of those who subbed, despite not having the subscription anymore.

Looking from my pov, those are shit metrics. 'Cause I played it, but didnt enjoy it and didnt pay 70 dollars for it, so MS only got my subscription fee. I'm also not subbed anymore to GP, so it would be more meaningful to know how many of those subscribers are still using GP.

Its like Netflix: many people sub when a new Stranger Things seasons comes out. Does that mean that they will stay subscribed after watching it? Nah, so this metrics sucks

Interesting. And in all honesty, Microsoft wouldn't really be celebrating that they got you as a subscriber for one month.

Because you played a new AAA $70 game for only $11 and may even have played a couple more games before your subscription ran out that you probably would have bought otherwise on Xbox. And you also aren't paying anymore.

Your case is the perfect example why inconsistent metrics and numbers like these are so meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

 

[H-I-M]

And in all honesty, Microsoft wouldn't really be celebrating that they got you as a subscriber for one month.

They actually would, it's called PR.

 

[Hugare]

The game is actually pretty damn good, if you subbed for a month just to try it and didn't like it, then that's the beauty of Game Pass, you don't have to sink $70 and now have to find a way to sell the disc because the game wasn't to your liking, you instead have hundreds of other game to try while your subscription is active. I find it hard to believe you didn't find anything else worth keeping Game Pass for, but even if I choose to believe your story, it's merely an anecdote. If there's a game out there that deserves $70 or a subscription, it's Starfield, the amount of content is just mind boggling, I've sunk more hours into Starfield than all the games this generation combined and I'm not done with it.

I've played games with my sub (mainly FH 5, amazing game), but that was it

Didnt find enough reasons to keep paying for it after that. Many games I've already bought on PS5 or Steam.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

The series platform will still be here after January 1st, time to wake up bud and stop projecting nonsense.

How many units will it sell in 2024?

 

[Kilau]

Has he estimated those? I haven't seen that or his methodology. I'd imagine that would be difficult with a large min/max difference since we've only got official data about 3 times over a long period of time.

The tweet says

“Launch day set a new record for most Game Pass subs added in a day”

Wondering how they could figure that.

 

[DaGwaphics]

The tweet says

“Launch day set a new record for most Game Pass subs added in a day”

Wondering how they could figure that.

I think MS provided that statistic in their earnings call and the tweet is just quoting that. Obviously, MS would have a record of their daily signups and can just run a query on that.

 

[Ansphn]

Before this reveal, supposedly the explosive numbers and Starfield's success were coming from steam sales, we were told that Xbox had nothing to do with it, so it wasn't a good look for Xbox, but now that we see it's actually doing better on Xbox, it's because PC players want to play something else. It's mind boggling how much people want to deny Stafield's success or want to see it fail, it's almost irrational until I remember how irrational tribalism can be.

Like I said, PC gamers have options. Baldur's Gate was huge on PC and then came Cyberpunk expansion to follow.

 

[Three]

The tweet says

“Launch day set a new record for most Game Pass subs added in a day”

Wondering how they could figure that.

Oh, that was just said in an earnings call by Satya.

 

[Kilau]

I think MS provided that statistic in their earnings call and the tweet is just quoting that. Obviously, MS would have a record of their daily signups and can just run a query on that.

Oh, that was just said in an earnings call by Satya.

Thank you.

 

[JackMcGunns]

This happens when a trilion dollar company buys third party publisher.

Nothing surprising.

Irrational would be if no one cared about whats happening in the industry because of MS.

I mean you just explained why people are doing it because It's clear Starfield does not deserve the hate its getting, thanks for making this abundantly clear, it's just that imo your logic is flawed, so you don't want to support a rich company that buys studios to lock away exclusives, because you want to support another rich company that buys studios and locks away exclusives? Sad state of affairs.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

All metrics must have dropped off the planet after the first week or so.

But they didn't. Acording to TrueAchievements.com, Starfield was the top played game on Xbox consoles for over a month. It's hard enough for single player games to even break into the top 10. Starfield is still in the top 5 right now.

 

[Heisenberg007]

But they didn't. Acording to TrueAchievements.com, Starfield was the top played game on Xbox consoles for over a month. It's hard enough for single player games to even break into the top 10. Starfield is still in the top 5 right now.

Why rely on trueachievements.com when you can have data from Microsoft.com?

Just took this one.

 

[Porticus]

I mean you just explained why people are doing it because It's clear Starfield does not deserve the hate its getting, thanks for making this abundantly clear, it's just that imo your logic is flawed, so you don't want to support a rich company that buys studios to lock away exclusives, because you want to support another rich company that buys studios and locks away exclusives? Sad state of affairs.

Starfield is not getting any hate, Starfield is getting what it deserves as a product, and the byproduct of that is MS getting shit because of it, deservingly so, they need to be accountable as they did with Redfall.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Why rely on trueachievements.com when you can have data from Microsoft.com?

Just took this one.

They calculate the numbers in different ways and it's hard to get a good read on the Xbox numbers since it changes daily. I think it was number 2 on the official Xbox most played charts for about a month, yeah.

 

[noise36]

How many played it for more than 30 minutes?

This reminds me of people claiming everyone is on $1 GP subs, then the financial statements reveal the average revenue per GP sub is $10+ pm.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Of course Microsoft has no actual numbers to show. I’d love to see how many subscribers they gained from Starfield (which means they can’t include Gamepass Core). Then I’d love to see how many of those subscribers they retain by New Years.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

Another weird *cough* spin metric.

Its just like the meme "Americans will measure with anything but the metric system"
Bullets, hours online, numbers of logins and so on

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Starfield is a BRAND NEW IP. No established lore, no nothing and it was at 11 million players from September 30th. It's sold more than that since then. A brand new IP??
As a new IP Starfield is murdering the narrative despite hardware sales. Some of y'all be trying WAY too hard.

The only one trying too hard is you. You mention all this stuff about Starfield being new, but fail to consider how much weight the Bethesda name carries. If this was a new IP from a less established studio then what you’re saying would have validity, but this is Bethesda fucking Studios! Their previous 2 games (Fallout 4 and Skyrim) had sold well over 50 M total copies. Around 80 million if you believe that Skyrim has sold 60M copies.

Destiny, for instance, sold very well initially and was a new IP but it had tgd Bungie name behind it.

For the record, I am not saying Starfield was a flop, but considering that it didn’t move the needle AT ALL for Xbox hardware and MS won’t share actual numbers, but player counts is VERY telling.

 

[Mr Moose]

Before this reveal, supposedly the explosive numbers and Starfield's success were coming from steam sales, we were told that Xbox had nothing to do with it, so it wasn't a good look for Xbox, but now that we see it's actually doing better on Xbox, it's because PC players want to play something else. It's mind boggling how much people want to deny Stafield's success or want to see it fail, it's almost irrational until I remember how irrational tribalism can be.

It's not talking about sales, that's players. It means more Xbox console game pass played it than PC games pass. 2/3 of sales are PC in the EU.

We released Starfield this quarter to broad acclaim. More than 11 million people have played the game to date. Nearly half of hours played have been on PC, and on launch day, we set a record for the most Game Pass subscriptions added on a single day ever.

 

[Heisenberg007]

They calculate the numbers in different ways and it's hard to get a good read on the Xbox numbers since it changes daily. I think it was number 2 on the official Xbox most played charts for about a month, yeah.

Yeah, it was #2 at launch, IIRC.

But TrueAchievements only represents a very small % of profiles. The Microsoft website shows a better overall picture.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Yeah, it was #2 at launch, IIRC.

But TrueAchievements only represents a very small % of profiles. The Microsoft website shows a better overall picture.

Do we even know how the Xbox website calculates it? Is it time played or times launched? At least we get a clear picture of how it's calculated for TrueAchievements. My point is that it's clear that the people playing the game are engaging for very long periods of time. There's hasn't been a major drop-off, especially for a singleplayer title.

 

[DaGwaphics]

They calculate the numbers in different ways and it's hard to get a good read on the Xbox numbers since it changes daily. I think it was number 2 on the official Xbox most played charts for about a month, yeah.

A new game being anywhere in the top 10 on that list, especially a couple weeks or more past release is an achievement. Starfield is doing better than most in terms of player engagement, no way for naysayers to spin that off.

 

[MikeM]

Great. Now how many finished it? I sure didn’t.

 

[Reckheim]

Great. Now how many finished it? I sure didn’t.

I'm waiting for the DLSS and HDR update they promised. But it's been so long I have no clue if I will go back; especially after plying phantom liberty.

 

[graywolf323]

The only one trying too hard is you. You mention all this stuff about Starfield being new, but fail to consider how much weight the Bethesda name carries. If this was a new IP from a less established studio then what you’re saying would have validity.

Destiny, for instance, sold very well initially and was a new IP but it had tgd Bungie name behind it.

For the record, I am not saying Starfield was a flop, but considering that it didn’t move the needle AT ALL for Xbox hardware and MS won’t share actual numbers, but player counts is VERY telling.

it was advertised all over the place as the first new IP in what like 20 years from the ‘makers of Skyrim and Fallout’ IIRC?

 

[AJUMP23]

I hope this news gets Nadella more of his bonus.

 

[MikeM]

I'm waiting for the DLSS and HDR update they promised. But it's been so long I have no clue if I will go back; especially after plying phantom liberty.

I’m playing Spiderman 2 and AC6. Then finishing my second run of CP2077.

Once done, I may give Starfield another go.

 

[DryvBy]

Wasn't it over 10 million a month ago? So ~1m additional players?

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Saying a whole lot without really saying much at all. Horrible metric, but certain fans will eat it up.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Wasn't it over 10 million a month ago? So ~1m additional players?

1m+ from the 10m announcement to this earnings report which was as of Sept. 30th. The 10m announcement was the 19th. So, eleven days.

 

[DryvBy]

1m+ from the 10m announcement to this earnings report which was as of Sept. 30th. The 10m announcement was the 19th. So, eleven days.

This article is from Sept 20th.

Starfield Hits 10 Million Players in Less Than Three Weeks - IGN

Starfield has seen more than 10 million players since it came out on September 1 in paid early access form, Bethesda has announced.

www.ign.com

And you can't rally count payers played. If I rent a game, I'm not profiting that company whatsoever. I've played it too and I don't pay for GP or anything.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Why rely on trueachievements.com when you can have data from Microsoft.com?

Just took this one.

Holy shit, its 6th behind those huge games? that's massive.

 

[Gavon West]

Starfield is not getting any hate, Starfield is getting what it deserves as a product, and the byproduct of that is MS getting shit because of it, deservingly so, they need to be accountable as they did with Redfall.

But, again, Starfield is doing SUPER well. So you're actually arguing for a narrative thats not even remotely true. Microsoft should take accountability for it's successes and failures. Starfield IS NOT EVEN REMOTELY a failure.

 

[Pidull]

A month after release, they sold 10 million copies of Skyrim. A decade later they are barely at 11 million who have played Starfield. Not bought. Played.

I'm shocked they'd even announce this information.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

A month after release, they sold 10 million copies of Skyrim. A decade later they are barely at 11 million who have played Starfield. Not bought. Played.

I'm shocked they'd even announce this information.

Shipped.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

This article is from Sept 20th.

Starfield Hits 10 Million Players in Less Than Three Weeks - IGN

Starfield has seen more than 10 million players since it came out on September 1 in paid early access form, Bethesda has announced.

www.ign.com

And you can't rally count payers played. If I rent a game, I'm not profiting that company whatsoever. I've played it too and I don't pay for GP or anything.

What does that have to do with my post? I was answering your question.

 

[DryvBy]

What does that have to do with my post? I was answering your question.

I misread your post. My bad.

 

[ShadowkillXNA]

Man, happy bunch of gamers here aren't ya. I'm going to buy some stocks in salt, hilarious. Kudos to Bethesda and MS/Xbox, game could have been a homerun out of Starfield but I'll settle for a triple with some jank and a broken bat.

More of a wild pitch hitting the batter in the nuts, or an unintentional walk maybe.

 

[ShadowkillXNA]

Microsofts been "trying" for 22 years now.

 

[ShadowkillXNA]

One of these days you will make Starfield a failure. I believe in you.

One of these days you'll make xbox a success. I believe in you.

 

[Porticus]

But, again, Starfield is doing SUPER well. So you're actually arguing for a narrative thats not even remotely true. Microsoft should take accountability for it's successes and failures. Starfield IS NOT EVEN REMOTELY a failure.

I never said was a failure, but for sure they expected a much better performance.

 

[Pidull]

Shipped.

As if that matters, the copies are already sold in Bethesda's book, money in hand. Shipped vs. Sold makes little difference unless your product was a massive flop in retail, which Skyrim wasn't.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

As if that matters, the copies are already sold in Bethesda's book, money in hand. Shipped vs. Sold makes little difference unless your product was a massive flop in retail, which Skyrim wasn't.

It matters because how do you know when all of these shipped copies were actually purchased by customers? In 1 month? 2? 3? Half a year? You're not comparing apples to apples. Times have changed.

And to be clear, I don't really care how many copies they sold, but these kind of 'comparisons' are stupid.

 

[Havoc2049]

1 million in over a month is a serious rate decrease.

We'll see if there is any nominal uptick through the holidays, but my guess is that the Xbox series is a dead platform after January 1.

There seems to be continued obfuscation around how well Starfield performed, but I think MOST of us measure the goals around Starfield (enough to foreclose it on PS5) to be as follows:

• Sell Xbox Series Consoles
• Sell GamePass Subscriptions
  • Retain MAU beyond 3 months

We've seen in every reported region in the world that Starfield failed to move Xbox Series passed the PS5 with no major release for even the month of September. That is enough to suggest that it didn't sell a sufficient number of units because I don't really think anyone would say the PS5 sold an exceptional number of units in September and by all reports it comfortable outsold the Xbox Series.

With Spider-Man 2, the PS5 Slim, and new accessories, the PS5 is going to have an extremely strong holiday season while the Xbox has nothing to push it this holiday. I'm stunned that Microsoft hasn't dropped the price yet, because that's the only thing left in their control to do. They should immediately drop the price by 100 dollars for the XSX and 50 dollars for the XSS. That they haven't dropped the price tells me that don't want to to eat the operating cost for selling at a loss even if it means maintaining market share. That tells me they are no longer interested in market share this generation, and that's a VERY dangerous conclusion to make this early in the cycle that will reverberate into the next cycle.

Not sure we've seen any reason to believe that GamePass subscribership would have largely advanced due to this game. Forza 5 seemingly got significantly more players though perhaps less engagement. Even if 75% of players played it on GamePass, that would still only be 8.25 million. Let's be aggressive and say half of these are new subscribers, that would mean Starfield only drove 4.125 million subscribers... that's not sufficient, particularly because there is no guarantee that they'll stay beyond 3 months, especially with nothing of note on the horizon.

The player counts for Starfield on in serious decline on Steam. Even Xbox players have moved on to other games falling behind games like Stray...

Perplexed by people who are saying this game wasn't a failure, when it clearly is.

Chill, the Xbox isn't going anywhere. You have a bunch of made up scenarios in your post with a bunch of guesstimations, with zero facts to back them up. The fact is that in the United States, Xbox console sales actually increased in the month of September with the release of Starfield, while Playstation saw a decline. So while it didn't out sell the Playstation, the Xbox is on an upward trend.

The reason the Xbox isn't seeing a drop in price, is because there aren't warehouses full of Xbox consoles out there and there hasn't been a major cost cutting revision. None of the three major players this console gen are sitting on tons of stock. Xbox, Playstation and Switch are all doing decent (Xbox) to great (PlayStation & Switch) this gen.

Not sure where you are getting the stats that more people are playing Stray on the Xbox than they are Starfield.

Here is the current Microsoft Store Top 15 in the US:
1. Fortnight
2. Call of Duty
3. Roblox
4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Seige
5. NBA 2k24
6. Apex Legends
7. Starfield
8. Grand Theft Auto 5
9. Minecraft
10. Madden 24
11. Overwatch 2
12. Rocket League
13. Destiny 2
14. Grand Theft Auto Online
15. Halo Infinite

 

[JohnnyFootball]

it was advertised all over the place as the first new IP in what like 20 years from the ‘makers of Skyrim and Fallout’ IIRC?

I updated my previous post, but Skyrim and Fallout 4 have sold around 80M copies. That marketting SHOULD carry a ton of weight.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Do we even know how the Xbox website calculates it? Is it time played or times launched? At least we get a clear picture of how it's calculated for TrueAchievements. My point is that it's clear that the people playing the game are engaging for very long periods of time. There's hasn't been a major drop-off, especially for a singleplayer title.

On Xbox, no, it doesn't seem like people dropped off. On Steam, yes, it has seen a significant drop.

And I think the Microsoft website just calculates the most number of hours during a given time period. But that's just my guess. I wish we get more info on stuff like this, but we rarely do (another reason why I hate these vanity metrics).

 

[Toytown Assassin]

On Xbox, no, it doesn't seem like people dropped off. On Steam, yes, it has seen a significant drop.

And I think the Microsoft website just calculates the most number of hours during a given time period. But that's just my guess. I wish we get more info on stuff like this, but we rarely do (another reason why I hate these vanity metrics).

Going by the achievements the number of players dropped off a hell of a lot. Those of us that like it put in an insane number of hours though.