Phil Spencer wants Starfield to be a 12-year hit, just like Skyrim

Whether you've been playing it for 200 hours or decided it was boring after 200 minutes, Starfield is nonetheless one of the most important video game releases this year. Since it's Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda's first new IP in decades, the intergalactic role-playing game was born wearing giant shoes to fill and debuted to ecstatic, unquenchable fanfare. 

Those expectations might intimidate some game studios, but Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer wouldn't have it any other way. Speaking at the 2023 Comic Con Experience in São Paulo on December 2, Spencer said he was confident Starfield could match Skyrim's longevity.

After being asked if he envisions players obsessing over Starfield even 12 years after its release, like Skyrim, Spencer said "That's [Microsoft's] goal."

"Skyrim is such an amazing hit from Bethesda Game Studios, and talking to [director] Todd Howard and the team — really, what they wanted to do [with Starfield] is [to give] people who love space and space exploration [...] that same opportunity," Spencer said. "So, we've already announced that we've got our next expansion coming, Shattered Space. We've already told the community that they'll get all the mod tools, so they can go and create their own content in Starfield, which has been so important to Skyrim."

"So, a ton of confidence that, for many, many years, Starfield will be [the] same, very high in the gameplay," he continued.

That's Spencer's hope, but Starfield's reality is more muddled. 

At CCXP, Spencer mentioned that the spacefarer RPG, released in September, has earned more than 12 million players and is currently part of Microsoft's top 10 most popular games. But, despite astronomical sales, Starfield has already dipped 30 spots below Skyrim on Steam's live most-played games chart, with around 13,000 current players compared to Skyrim's nearly 20,000. Starfield seems to be faring a bit better on Game Pass, ranking higher than Skyrim according to Microsoft's "most played games" filter, but Game Pass does not reveal precise concurrent player numbers.

Like with all things, only time can tell how truly healthy Starfield is. Though, I imagine the DLC Bethesda plans to release in early 2024 won't hurt. It might even lasso Starfield's slipping player base, reminding them of what drew them to Bethesda initially.

"[Bethesda creates] massive, massive games where people can do so much," Spencer said at CCXP. "They have their own choices, whether it's Skyrim, whether it's [dystopian RPG] Fallout, they can focus on combat, they can focus on exploration, they can focus on building their own character, telling their own stories. And that's gonna continue in Starfield." 

You can read on to our Starfield New Game Plus guide for a complete look at how the mode works.