Screw it I'll go on the 1m train, I wanted to say 900-999 but the hype is getting to me.

Tracking favourably against Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy as well so it should be either matching them or beating them.

This Savage x Starfield video is Complete fire.

Starfield cracked the top 5 globally. I wonder if the excitement of today will make it go up any higher.

Lol, he attributes way too much to the FTC which never engaged in negotiation and resolutions with MS. Not sure what he gains from prising the FTC here.

Nice to see MS's distinctive attitude is being duly noted but I think the industry as a whole is evolving and conditions are getting better, MS is just getting there faster. 12 years ago I decided to stay out of the gaming industry because working conditions were horrible, but now it looks like some of the worst practices have been abandoned (like contracting workers vs hiring them to be able to force mandatory unpaid overtime on them).

It's nice to see, now young graduates and especially talented ones may have an easier time choosing the gaming industry as their career choices.

So I looked into the stats before making my prediction. When Skyrim released in 2011 Steam's overall peak concurrent user number was around 3m, Skyrim's peak of 287k was about 1/10th of that. When Fallout 4 released in 2015, Steam's overall peak concurrent users were 13.5m, so Fallout 4's peak concurrent users of 472k were definitely a smaller percentage of the overall Steam userbase than Skyrim's 1/10th, but still about 1/27th of the overall Steam peak Concurrent Users at the time. Steam's overall peak concurrent user record as of 2023 is 28.2m I believe, so Steam's userbase has seemingly more than doubled since Fallout 4 released in 2015 to 472k peak concurrent users.

Taking those numbers into account, it seems like the baseline, assuming roughly equivalent critic and user reviews to Fallout 4 for Starfield, would be doubling Fallout 4's 472k to reach 944k peak concurrent users, since Steam's active userbase itself has a bit more than doubled since 2015. We could also use the same 1 in 27 users from Fallout 4's calculation above on the total peak concurrent Steam users of 28.2m in 2023 to reach 1.044m for Starfield. However, that is of course assuming that Starfield is only about as popular as Fallout 4, Fallout 4 was a rushed release with just 2.5 years of full development, that got lower critic and user scores than Skyrim as a result, which likely hurt it's playerbase a good bit on launch. If Starfield reviews better than Fallout 4  (which is hopefully possible considering how much longer it has been in development for and how much longer they have spent polishing it), it could potentially reach closer to Skyrim levels of popularity, pushing it's peak concurrent users on launch up into Lost Ark territory of 1.3m range or above possibly even.

There is one last factor to take into account though, Gamepass PC. Gamepass could potentially pull a decent number of potential Steam sales over to playing the game for cheap on Gamepass PC. Alot depends on rather or not Starfield is one of the Gamepass games that allows easy unofficial modding or one that doesn't allow it. If the Gamepass version is limited to the heavily curated in-game mod store, which doesn't allow many mods created for Bethesda games, many PC gamers that like to mod will surely stick with the Steam version so that they can use Nexus mods and such. At this point it is hard to tell just how many users Gamepass PC will pull from Steam.

Here's a guy covering the live stream of the Q&A happening on Discord.

First question: Can we buy houses or property in main cities?

Will Shen answer: Yep! There’s housing in different cities that the player can get. Some you have to purchase and some are rewards for specific quests.

Emil Pagliarulo answer: Sure can! You can purchase a dwelling in all the major cities in the game. And there’s at least one that you get specifically for completing... something.

Damn I missed some of it! Anything else?

Houses in each city, hype.

Q: If we get the Kids Stuff trait, will our parents be generated based on our characters look or are there standard parents put in place? What benefits might there be?

Will: Our programmers on our new face tech were excited to make a function that could try to match your custom face and then create the two parents. So they are based on what your character looks like, although the specific math involved is a bit beyond me. We had similar tech in our previous games.

Emil:
Yes, totally. Just as we did in Fallout 3 with your dad, and in Fallout 4 with your son, in Starfield, if you take the Kid Stuff Trait. your parents are based off of you. No spoilers, but I think fans will really appreciate the actors we got to play those roles. And they just get SO into it, it's awesome. (Oh, and yeah, you can get... stuff)

Will there be a jail system if we committed crimes?

Will:
Yes, you can elect to go to jail or pay a fine when you're arrested (or even resist arrest and try to escape).

Emil:
Yup. The Settled Systems is more like Skyrim than Fallout 4's Commonwealth in that regard. Ya bancha criminals!
There's civilization, there's government, and there are laws. And in a couple cases, we actually explore the themes of crime and punishment in our futuristic universe.

Q: Depending on traits selected during character creation, will it at all be possible to play through the game in a 'pacifist mode', i.e. without killing anyone, or even potentially, anything?

Will Shen Said:

I can't guarantee every mission can be completed in pacifist mode, but we do have a couple of systems that will help. One system is our Speech Challenge game, where you can persuade someone to do something like not fight you. The speech challenge game is added in specific scripted moments, and we try to add one in to most quests where important characters confront you.

Emil Pagliarulo Said:

So, we talked about this very early on during pre-production, whether or not we would fully support a "non-lethal" playthrough. We realized that, for various reasons, that wasn't totally feasible. Now, that being said, there are some good non-lethal options, whether through dialogue or by using a non-lethal weapon. Those can be used in certain situations, honestly a lot of situations, though I couldn't comfortably say you can complete the entire game without any killing whatsoever. The Settled Systems is mostly civilized, but it can be a dangerous place if you're going off the beaten path. And you're absolutely going off the beaten path!

Will time pass when not in the game? For example, will my trade routes, outposts, and mining operations continue to produce or does that only occur while actively playing?

Emil Pagliarulo Said:

The sim only runs when you're actively playing. No sleeping on the job!

Q: What are the beliefs and basic history of the religions we can join (Sanctum Universum, Enlightened, Great Serpent)?

Emil Pagliarulo Said:

Okay, so this one... Existing, IRL religions are part of the Starfield universe, (with folks of all religions and denominations out there) but we don't really focus on them. Instead, we highlight three new ones specific to the game. Sanctum Universum – The members, called "Universals," believe that God very much exists somewhere in the universe. That a higher power is guiding us all. Specifically, they believe that humanity's ability to travel the universe and grav jump is God's way of saying, "I'm out here. Come find me." The Enlightened – These folks are essentially organized atheists. They don't believe in any kind of higher power. Rather, they teach that human beings have to take care of each other, and they practice what they preach through various community outreach programs.

Will Shen Said:

Yeah. The Sanctum Universum is only a couple decades old in our timeline, but has gained a lot of prominence. They believe that God is out there, somewhere in the universe, and that humanity's ability to travel the stars brings us closer to God. The Enlightened are an atheist group that focus on humanitarian and community work. They believe that life is something every person has to take responsibility for, so that if we want the world to be a better place, we have to do it. House Va'ruun - Ho boy. 😆 So, in the game, you're not really sure what the complete truth is, but... The gossip among the guards is this: a colony ship sets off for a new world, making grav jumps along the way. After one of the grav jumps, one of the passengers claims he spent that time communing with a celestial entity known as the Great Serpent. What was a few seconds for everyone else was... much longer for him. And he brought back a mandate, which is basically, "get onboard, or be devoured when the Great Serpent encircles the universe." Is it true?? I ain't sayin'.

Q: How many companions total will we be able to recruit?

Will Shen Said:

There are over 20 named characters who can join your crew. Four of them are from Constellation and have the most story and interaction with the player, but all of the named characters have their own backgrounds and can follow you around (and carry your stuff).

Emil Pagliarulo Said:

Over 20 total, and we really focused on the members of Constellation. What Will said. lol When we first began Starfield pre-production, we looked back at our previous games, and realized how popular and effective the companions were. So they were a big priority for us, and we really wanted to tie them directly to the main quest. There are some really big moments with them specifically. I should also mention that our companion voice cast is amazing. We haven't released the list yet, but you can be sure there are a lot of talented actors bringing those characters to life. (Same for Constellation in general)

Q: When we assign crew members to work at outposts, do we have to pay them salaries?

Emil Pagliarulo Said:

You just pay them once. We actually experimented with paying them regular salaries, but ultimately decided to just have the one cost up front. There's a lot to do in Starfield, and we wanted to minimize what the player had to constantly keep track of.

Will Shen Said:

Yep. One time payment (that you can use the speech challenge game to negotiate over. Some traits also affect the cost)

Q: Will our companions be able to level up their perks? Will their perks stack with ours?

Will Shen Said: 

All crew start with a set of perks at specific ranks. So you might meet a character that's especially good at rifles, and you hire them to watch your back. Or you might meet an Astrodynamics expert that will increase your grav jump range when assigned to your ship.

Emil Pagliarulo Said: 

They don't level up, but they come at different ranks, depending on the companion. Well, we call them Skills in Starfield. And they do stack with yours, when relevant. Some are there for flavor, to highlight the companions' backgrounds and interests. But you'll really feel the benefit of the ship- and combat-related ones. Getting a boost to your shields, or seeing your companion laying down fire with a weapon they're proficient in, are pretty sweet moments.