Starfield's numbers overshadow Baldur's Gate 3's critical success

Apparently, Starfield is 2023's most played role-playing game, surpassing the total playtime of Baldur's Gate 3. Official playtime statistics from both Bethesda Game Studios and Larian Studios reveal that Starfield accumulated a staggering 534,823,944 hours of playtime, significantly more than the 452,556,984 hours logged in Baldur's Gate 3.

Despite Baldur's Gate 3 being released 34 days before Starfield, on August 3, 2023, and enjoying greater critical acclaim, Starfield still managed to pull ahead in terms of the total hours played. Although, as pointed out by Game Infinitus, we should note that the playtime stats for Baldur's Gate 3 were recorded as of December 5, 2023, while Starfield's data was as of December 20, 2023, giving a 15-day differential.

Nevertheless, Starfield's success is noteworthy, in spite of the very real and glaring flaws that it continues to have, which may or may not be fixed by modders after the more prominent groups have started dropping support for the game en masse.

Starfield, set in a space-themed environment, is Bethesda's first new intellectual property in 25 years. In it, players join a team of space explorers to collect mysterious artifacts across various locations in the Milky Way galaxy. The game drew frequent comparisons to Skyrim or Oblivion and was developed using Bethesda's proprietary Creation Engine, which underwent significant modifications to support its procedural generation system.

Not unlike its predecessors, Bethesda made Starfield to be played for hundreds if not thousands of hours over the next several years. So, to see players logging in nearly a billion hours cumulatively in less than six months reinforces the direction Bethesda took, for better or for worse.

Aside from design, a major factor that may have contributed to Starfield's extensive playtime is its availability on Game Pass. Bethesda's partnership with AMD also meant that it came bundled with new AMD graphics cards and processors at launch. This strategy ensured that many players had access to the game, often resulting in players giving away extra copies to friends. Additionally, Starfield was highly anticipated, with about eight years of active development following the release of Fallout 4. But, the expectations have since backfired.

Starfield has faced plenty of criticism for its lackluster gameplay and narrative, with its game world lacking in the depth and compelling lore that characterized Bethesda's previous titles. The game's expansive universe, filled with barren and uninteresting landscapes, separated by multiple loading screens, received mixed reactions. While some players enjoyed aspects like shipbuilding and the potential to explore a vast cosmos, others felt these features were underwhelming.

The game's performance on platforms like Steam also paints a telling picture. As of the time of analysis, Starfield ranked #81 in sales on Steam, contrasting with Baldur's Gate 3 at #1. It has occassionally dropped out from the platform's top 100 most played games, where Baldur's Gate 3 frequently ranks among the top 10. Xbox Achievements data has further highlighted that a significant percentage of Starfield players had not deeply engaged with the game, with 28% never entering space and 55% not reaching Level 5, further proving that a vast majority logged on, tried it out for an hour or two, and never picked it back up again.

Despite the critiques, Starfield's expansive universe offered a wide range of activities, from shipbuilding to capturing a variety of stunning virtual sunsets, leading players to accumulate hours of gameplay. Many players found themselves investing time in the game before eventually moving on, citing a lack of payoff for their efforts.

Still, the point remains - people spend hours playing Starfield. The onus is now on Bethesda to improve its quality to make sure players get more of their money's worth.

Bethesda has promised big plans for Starfield going forward. It remains to be seen if its efforts will be in vain or will be enough to change the public narrative.

As for Baldur's Gate 3, it isn't coming to the Game Pass anytime soon, but its predecessors are coming to the popular video game subscription service.