Bethesda's Starfield has been a hot topic lately, especially since its new Shattered Space DLC came out. Unfortunately, things haven't been going so well, and it might impact plans for the future.
Shattered Space's Disappointing Reception
Starfield was supposed to be a big hit, a brand new open-world RPG from a well-respected studio. However, fans and critics have been pretty underwhelmed. Many say it has problems with game mechanics, the exploration aspect, and even its story.
The Shattered Space DLC was expected to help things, but, sadly, it's gotten mostly negative reviews on Steam, with only about 30% positive feedback, making it far worse than the original game itself, which was released in September 2023. People are saying the writing isn't great, the expansion isn't very ambitious and that there's not a whole lot of new content, especially for the $30 price tag.
Low Player Counts
The low reviews are one thing, but Forbes also highlighted some other concerning news- Shattered Space hasn't exactly brought in a ton of new players. When it first came out on September 30th, it peaked around 21,792 players on Steam. Then the number dropped to around 18,762 players by October 6th. On weekdays, it even dropped down to just around 9,000 players.
To give you an idea of how low that really is, Starfield's player count before the DLC was only about 12,000 players on weekends. It has performed worse even compared to Skyrim Special Edition or Fallout 4. Recent hits like Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, or even Baldur's Gate 3 had way more players.
While Steam is showing numbers for PC, remember Starfield is available via Game Pass and Xbox. There are no publicly released numbers. However, this doesn't change much since Starfield still shows pretty much the same numbers even without that DLC. However, despite that, Starfield still remains popular among those single player games for both Game Pass and Xbox!
The Future of Starfield DLC
The low numbers for Shattered Space are worrying because, even from Steam numbers, it looks like only a small portion of players who initially got Starfield actually came back. Given all the negative feedback and Starfield's decreasing popularity on Steam, this means any upcoming DLC from Bethesda could flop hard!
Bethesda might be able to change things with future DLCs, especially if it's way better than this one. But getting Starfield back up to its earlier highs is probably very tough.
As an example, Fallout 4's first big DLC, Far Harbor, peaked around 74,000 players! It was their biggest spike until the Fallout TV show came along in 2024 and made everyone interested again.
The success that Far Harbor had, in comparison with Shattered Space's release, may signal that a success will only come if the next DLC gets rave reviews, which, sadly, might not happen so easily! Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man's Sky showed some hope. However, what Shattered Space has demonstrated, signals that future Starfield releases will probably have far fewer players.
Bethesda's DLC Problem
One of the concerns with Starfield's Shattered Space DLC is the poor performance. Some wonder whether this could end Starfield's DLC production entirely. This is especially a worry considering that Bethesda's other popular brands, Fallout and The Elder Scrolls still sell extremely well! It appears that Starfield's poor performance might lead Bethesda to drop it altogether to go towards projects like Elder Scrolls 6 (announced in 2018) or a new Fallout 5, riding on the waves of popularity brought by the new live action series!
While no official announcements have happened! Shattered Space is clearly disappointing everyone. It is highly likely Bethesda might completely abandon Starfield in favor of something newer.
Without being able to see numbers from Xbox and Game Pass, we can't exactly state what's actually happening with Starfield's total numbers. Nevertheless, Steam data reveals major concern for Bethesda, especially since it's their newest RPG. It could spell the end of this ambitious game.
