Bethesda released Starfield just two months ago, but Skyrim is already outranking it on Steam’s player charts after the space game’s stellar launch. While Starfield still has several thousand players at a given point each day, Skyrim is gaining a few thousand more across both of the Bethesda game’s editions (thanks, Eurogamer).
At the time of publication, SteamDB shows that Starfield has approximately 17,000 players in the game, while roughly 19,000 people are playing Skyrim Special Edition, and 2,000 are holding out in the base version of Skyrim. Starfield’s latest 24-hour peak is 23,920, and Skyrim’s is 22,368, but the general trend seems to show more interest in Skyrim as November progresses.
Starfield’s 24-hour peak went from 30,000 or more after Nov. 11, 2023, to 26,000 and lower from Nov. 13, 2023, to now. Skyrim, meanwhile, saw a small increase on Nov. 13, 2023, and has averaged between 22,000 and 25,000 each day for a week. The standard version of Skyrim, without the special edition or Skyrim anniversary upgrades, still gets about 3,000 people playing each day.
Starfield’s all-time peak is 330,720, though the most Skyrim managed is 287,411 – and that was the original version.
While it might seem like an odd situation, seeing a 12-year-old game start overtaking a new, hotly anticipated one, there’s probably a few good reasons behind it. The first burst of Starfield post-launch enthusiasm is likely waning a little, as players complete the existing questlines and explore most of what’s there to explore. Skyrim’s less drastic fluctuations and consistently high numbers suggest it’s probably a core of enthusiastic fans sticking to a game they love.
Plus there’s just more to do in Skyrim. Starfield companion quests are fewer, and there aren’t as many faction storylines to pursue. Still, that’s likely to change as Bethesda releases Starfield’s planned expansions in the coming months and years.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
