GamesRadar has picked Starfield as the featured game for its April Replay community series. They’re inviting players to share clips from Bethesda’s space RPG for a chance to win Amazon vouchers. This promotion arrives while the game holds a mere 55% positive rating on Steam from 115,816 reviews.
The Replay series is GamesRadar’s ongoing community clip competition. Each month, players can submit footage from any game, but in April, the focus is on Starfield. This gives Bethesda’s 2023 open-world RPG a chance to shine again, especially since interest has waned since its launch.
Starfield debuted on September 6, 2023, and received a Metacritic score of 88, which is solid by most standards. However, the critical reception and player retention tell a different tale. Currently, the game sees around 4,895 concurrent players on Steam. That’s a steep decline from the 330,723 peak during launch week, reflecting a drop of about 98.5% from its all-time high.
The $49.99 price tag on Steam hasn’t helped matters. Nearly two and a half years post-launch, Bethesda still hasn’t lowered the base game price. This unusual decision likely deters potential new players who might be hesitant to invest in a title with a mixed reputation.
Publications like Comic Book Resources have suggested revisiting Starfield in 2025 or 2026. They often mention post-launch patches and mod support as reasons to come back. However, the modding aspect has become more of a point of contention for some players than an appealing feature.
| Metacritic Score | 88 |
| Steam Review Score | 55% positive |
| Total Steam Reviews | 115,816 |
| Current Steam Players | 4,895 |
| Steam Price | $49.99 |
Recent community sentiment on Steam has turned negative. One reviewer noted, “Everyone kind of already knows the story here. It’s 2026 and nothing has changed. But wait — when I first opened the game it took me right over to their new paid mod section.” This captures a common frustration: players feel Bethesda is focusing more on monetized mod storefronts instead of delivering meaningful free updates to the game.
What To Watch
- Paid mod expansion: Bethesda’s move into paid mods for Starfield evokes their controversial models from Fallout 4 and Skyrim’s Creation Club. Keep an eye on whether the studio changes its strategy in response to player feedback or sticks with this approach for long-term revenue.
- Price movement: At $49.99 nearly 30 months after launch, a major sale or permanent price cut could boost player counts and attract new media coverage. So far, no such reduction has been announced.
- Community series traction: GamesRadar’s Replay spotlight shows ongoing media interest in Starfield. If the clip submissions are robust, it might indicate a more engaged player base than the current Steam numbers suggest. This could be driven by Game Pass access rather than Steam ownership.
