Starfield Surprisingly Tops Baldur’s Gate 3 as 2023’s Most Played RPG

Baldur’s Gate 3 was undoubtedly the discovery of 2023, securing six out of eight nominations at The Game Awards and claiming the crown at the Steam Awards 2023 as well. Despite this, it appears that Microsoft’s crown jewel, Starfield, was the one that resonated more with people, or at least that’s what the numbers suggest.

At The Game Awards, Starfield had only one nomination in its repertoire, competing in the Best Role-Playing Game category, and unfortunately, it lost in that category to Baldur’s Gate 3. At the end of 2023, publishers for both the games posted their respective player counts for each of the game, and the results were somewhat surprising to say the least.

Starfield Beats Baldur’s Gate 3 By Over 80M+ Play-Hours to Become the Most Played RPG of 2023

Baldur’s Gate 3, the GOTY scored a decent 452.556.984 hours of playtime, but the star of the show was Starfield, coming in at just over 534,823,944 hours of playtime in total, becoming the most played RPG of 2023.

It is important to understand that Starfield launched on September 6th, over a month after Baldur’s Gate 3, which was released on August 3rd. Additionally, the numbers recorded above reflect a time differential, with Baldur’s Gate 3’s playtime being recorded for December 5th, while Starfield’s numbers were from December 20th, giving it a 15-day lead.

In spite of all that, Starfield’s success can partly be attributed to the fact that it is available on Xbox Game Pass and was bundled with AMD components at launch, reaching greater audiences. The game wasn’t really well-received initially, with plenty of flaws at launch, but with a game that is made to be played for hundreds and thousands of hours over the next few years, you can, kind of expect that.

However, Baldur’s Gate 3’s current reign as the #1 Steam bestseller, compared to Starfield’s position at #81, suggests that sometimes, metrics can be deceptive. While certain factors might paint a picture of Starfield’s greater success, the current reality portrays a different story.

This is all we know for now, but rest assured that we will keep you updated as new information becomes available.