With Shattered Space’s player count, is Starfield’s next DLC in trouble?

like StarfieldIt’s new Shattered Space DLC releases to an underwhelming critical reception, a disappointingly low player count could spell trouble for the game’s future expansions. Departure from Bethesda’s pre-established franchise in Fallout And The Elder Scrolls, StarfieldThe sci-fi setting and focus on space exploration are intended to set it apart as an open-world RPG. However, a year after its initial release, and with the launch of its first major DLC, The critical reception to Starfield was mixed at bestWith many players expressing disappointment in the game mechanics, exploration and story.

Unfortunately, while players could have hoped that StarfieldThe first DLC may fix the problems of the base game, Shattered Space was very poorly received, sitting at mostly negative on Steam with only 30% positive reviews – a significantly worse reception than the base game received when it launched in September 2023. However, while players find faults with Starfield‘s current DLC, including uninteresting writing, unambitious scope, and a general lack of new content for the DLC’s $30 price tag, Shattered Spaces poor performance may also have implications for the future of Starfields DLC.

Just how low is Shattered Space’s player count?

Starfield draws similar numbers to Skyrim and Fallout 4, despite the recent DLC launch

unfortunately, Shattered Spaces Poor critical reception is far from the game’s only problem – as discussed in an article from Forbes, The DLC isn’t enhanced either Starfields player count As much as can be expected from the game’s first major DLC, well The peak was 21,792 players when the DLC launched on September 30. from there, Starfields player count (by Steam charts) quickly began to stagnate again, after a peak of 18,762 players on Sunday, October 6, and recently at around 9,000 players during the weekdays.

in comparison, Starfields peak player counts during weekends have been lower than those of the Skyrim Special Edition (a 2016 re-release of a game from 2011) on Steam since the release of Shattered SpaceAnd its September 30 launch day peak was only slightly higher than that of Fallout 4 on the same day. to compare Starfield To more recent releases, games like Alden ring, Cyberpunk 2077And especially Baldur’s Gate 3 (Released in the same year as Starfield), have all maintained significantly higher player counts without the recent release of any DLC.

of course, A significant part of StarfieldIts audience would be playing the game on Game Pass or Xbox insteadNone of which offer direct player count numbers. As Tassi pointed out, however, Starfields placing in popularity rankings on each platform has not shifted much with the release of Shattered Space. Starfield is consistently one of the most popular single-player games on both Game Pass and Xbox.

After Shattered Space, Will Starfield Players Come Back For More DLC?

Shattered Space may dampen player interest in Starfield for future DLC

unfortunately, broken Places low numbers could be a bad sign for the future Starfield DLC As, extrapolating from the game’s Steam numbers, only a fraction of the game’s initial player base returned to the game the first time around. Now, with the generally poor reception of Shattered Space And Starfield‘s waning popularity (at least on Steam), whatever future DLC that Bethesda might have planned could suffer from even lower returns as the game’s reputation suffers and more players are driven away by Shattered Spaces missing notice.

There’s a chance that future DLC could turn things around StarfieldEspecially if the future DLC is more positively received, but unfortunately, it is relatively unlikely that the player counts will be higher. for reference, Fallout 4s first major DLC, For Harbourresulting in a peak of around 74,000 players, by far the highest peak the game would reach since launch until the Fallout TV shows renewed mainstream interest in the series in 2024.

In this comparison, however, it is also true that For Harbour is received much more positively than Shattered SpaceSo if there is any opportunity for Starfield To turn his low player count around, it would be too Make sure the next DLC of the game is of better quality – Something that is much easier said than done. While the turnaround of games like Cyberpunk 2077 And No man’s heaven Shows that there is a chance for Starfield But to bounce back, Shattered Space Is already a very poor sign for the game’s future DLC releases.

Why Bethesda’s DLC problem is bad news for Starfield

After Shattered Space, expectations for Starfield’s DLC were low

of course, There is also the possibility that Shattered Space Was already the last nail in the coffin for Starfield – While multiple DLCs have been promised, the poor quality and performance of Shattered Space Does not give much confidence in Starfields future. Based on the poor impression of the first DLC, players can only really expect more of the same, which, for a DLC that has already failed to meaningfully improve the base game, means low expectations and likely diminishing returns on whatever DLC Bethesda decides to release. for Starfield In the future.

Even more drastic is the possibility that Shattered Spaces unclear reception may mark the end of Starfield DLC in general. With Bethesda’s other franchises still performing relatively well, even with a lack of recent releases, the low player count of Starfield may encourage the studio to simply move on to other high-priority projects—mainly, Age Scrolls 6Which is announced in 2018, or a prospective Fallout 5Banking on the popularity of the live-action TV series. Although nothing has been announced, there is the possibility that Shattered SpaceBethesda’s panned launch will lead to Gore from Starfield.

Of course, it’s hard to know exact sales numbers, or even general player counts on platforms other than Steam, that way Shtarfield May very well be performing much better than the numbers suggest. For being Bethesda’s newest open-world RPG and major new franchise, however, StarfieldThe latest numbers on Steam are a massive disappointment and a poor indicator for whatever future DLC Bethesda may have planned. While it is still too early to tell, Starfields Shattered Space DLC may have already marked the end for the game’s post-launch support.

Source: Forbes