Starfield Steam Ratings are in Freefall But Does That Matter?

Starfield is the best immersive fun I’ve had in a while and that while stretches back to San Andreas (I still play it in a separate machine that never goes online.)

But if you’re yet to hop onto Starfield and you’re putting your decision on a fanbase reacting negatively to the game, you’re missing out.

Starfield is the best Bethesda game since Skyrim.

It has everything to attract RPG AND non-RPG gamers – great graphics, fun gameplay, deep mechanics, and Bethesda written all over it.

While the normal is to judge popularity or penetration by the number, Starfield’s Steam numbers, and its reviews, are only half of the story. Here’s why.

Starfield Steam Player Count Plus Ratings

Starfield is Bethesda’s gaming bet for the next decade at least. The game is ‘intentionally made to be played for a long time’ according to Todd Howard.

He’s even said that Starfield’s Xbox exclusivity was better for the game and that is obvious enough.

Being an Xbox exclusive, Starfield released on Game Pass. And on Steam.

If you want to play Starfield on Steam, you need to get at least the Standard Edition priced at $69.99.

But you can play Starfield on Xbox Game Pass on your Xbox X/S or your Windows PC for $10 a month, and despite Starfield being a big enough game, you will surely complete a couple of playthroughs over the month.

So, it’s understandable that Steam players are dropping the hammer on Starfield after shelling out 70 bucks for it when they could’ve played it from launch for 10 bucks a month.

Starfield on Steam is not worth it because it’s cheaper on Game Pass. Although this doesn’t mean Starfield’s the best Bethesda could have done with it, the game’s a lot better than most of the negative Steam reviews and that’s for a fact.

Why Starfield Steam Ratings Don’t Matter Much

I’ll tell you why.

The Starfield experience is accessible at $10 a month. That’s how Bethesda’s planned it out and that’s why Microsoft spent billions to bring Starfield exclusively for Xbox.

While Starfield has its flaws – frustrating loading screens, funny glitches, occasional crashes, stalled game progress, limited NPC variations, limited open-world interactions, etc., it’s close to the best gaming experience out there and it’s in space.

So, whatever the game fails to do is to meet some expectations even though most of what we expected from Starfield is already delivered on a silver platter – out-of-this-world space combat, immersive graphics, a state-of-the-art ship-building experience, and more, including a post-completion game section.

It’s only been a month and rating Starfield comes down to what you get from what you give.

For $10 a month, this is the best gaming experience you can get and, on that note, Starfield is a knockout.

Starfield Steam Deck Gaming

Can you play Starfield on your Steam Deck?

Technically you can since it’s on Steam.

But Starfield is a demanding game, reason why it will not release for Xbox One and why you need to check requirements and settings to get the best out of it even on your PC.

While the Steam Deck is unanimously more powerful than the Switch, playing Starfield on Steam Deck is generally not advised. You’ll rarely make the best of its 60Hz display even if you min the graphics settings.

Why?

Starfield takes more than graphics. It has a huge gaming world with multiple simultaneous events running making it even more CPU-dependent than what you’d expect.

The Steam Deck is ill-powered to run Starfield and I’m sure Starfield will not make it to Switch 2 as well, which will push PS4/Xbox One specs at its best.

All that and $69 just to play Starfield on a handheld device while compromising on gameplay experience and immersion sounds a bit off.

Is Starfield on Steam worth it?

Sadly no and that has less to do with the game and a lot more to do with Xbox Game Pass. You can play Starfield on PC with Steam or even on your Steam Deck. But it’s a lot cheaper to play Starfield on PC just by subscribing to Xbox Game Pass. The only way playing Starfield on Steam seems worth it is if you’d rather buy the game today and maybe even play it a year later again when it has more playable content! Or you can spend a few hours on Counter Strike 2.