There was a new Xbox showcase this past week with a lot of solid offerings, but what was supposed to be one of the biggest games of this entire era was nowhere to be found. That would be Bethesda’s Starfield, the new IP from the developer that Microsoft previously bragged was the studio’s biggest launch ever.
Starfield was released in September of 2023, and its first DLC, Shattered Space, was released in September of 2024. So, Starfield fans were hoping that this showcase would debut another DLC that was going to be out this fall, despite how late of notice that might have been.
Nope, didn’t happen. And I think when you examine how this game has performed and the support it’s gotten, you’ll understand why.
I don’t care about the current numbers on this Steamdb chart but see if you can guess where the launch of Shattered Space was here. Can you see it? Do you need a microscope? Yes, it’s that little blip in September to the right of the middle. The launch of the expansion took the game to a 21,000 peak, double-ish what the game was averaging before that. If you want a comparison point, here’s the launch of Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion, three years after the game’s (poor) launch.
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It’s obvious, and the expansion went on to have about a 30% attach rate to the original game. Some may say that Xbox players who got the full bundle for launch may have played it more, but it’s not like this game did not sell very well on Steam, and I don’t think the numbers were wildly better elsewhere.
Bethesda and Microsoft do not believe there’s enough of an audience for a second expansion. They’re right, clearly. The Shattered Space expansion was not even good, for that matter, so in addition to just making something, they’d have to make it a lot better. Combine this with Bethesda being half a decade behind on making Elder Scrolls VI, and there’s just no chance this was going to happen.
Bethesda has attempted to channel Skyrim and open up mod tools for Starfield, but that has disappointed that community as it hasn’t been good enough support, and big scene modders have abandoned the game entirely.
Starfield should have been a game that received ongoing support and built itself out with features and additions and content like we saw with the game it emulated, No Man’s Sky. But Bethesda is not Hello Games, and Starfield was not given this support. It got a vehicle update, some new base items. The ability to not completely wreck all your items when switching ships. Not much, nor did it deliver a good DLC, and the numbers reflect that. Starfield’s done.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
