Starfield Beats Baldur’s Gate 3 As Most Played RPG of 2023

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Abiyan

At HI Digital I test and write about different hardware configurations to show other PC users what they can expect from their build. My end goal is to educate the masses to make the right decision when they are looking for new PC parts to buy

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2023 was a great year for RPGs. With games like Baldur’s Gate 3 dominating the completion to win 65 GOTY awards and Starfield reaching millions of players, last year’s slate of RPGs had a lot of variety.

Cyberpunk 2077 also turned into the best version of itself after the launch of Phantom Liberty. However, despite Baldur’s Gate 3 being considered the best RPG of 2023, Starfield has come out on top as the most-played title.

Why it matters: Starfield has been heavily criticized over the last few months, so fans will be pleased to see the game taking home the title of the most-played RPG.

In December 2023, both Bethesda Game Studios and Larian Studios shared the stats of their respective games. While both developers reported an impressive amount of playtime, Baldur’s Gate 3 ended up falling behind.

As noted by Gameinfinitus, gamers spent 534,823,944 hours in Starfield. On the other hand, 452,556,984 hours have been spent in Baldur’s Gate 3, making Starfield the most-played RPG of 2023.

While Larian Studios shared its stats two weeks earlier, the developer had a head start since its game was released in August. Therefore, this discrepancy was likely evened out when considering the gap between the release of the two RPGs.

Unlike Starfield, Baldur’s Gate 3 was released on all platforms. However, at the time of these stats being published, the latter was not on the Xbox Series S|X platforms, making both games exclusive to one console platform, with the PC release being common across the two.

Still, the PS5 has a much larger market than the Xbox Series S|X consoles, recently reaching 50 million sales. This likely gave Larian Studios a slight edge despite a similar console exclusive release at the time of this comparison.

Xbox Game Pass’ ease of access may have been the reason for Starfield’s impressive playtime. While Larian Studios has no intention of putting its game on subscriptions, Bethesda Game Studios has reaped the benefits of Microsoft’s subscription-based approach in 2023.

💀 Number of you who started an Honour Mode playthrough? 158'000
🩻 Of those players, 464 parties have made it to the end already. 34'000 of you…have already met your match. Better luck next time. pic.twitter.com/sLZ53yxHS4

— Larian Studios (@larianstudios) December 5, 2023

In addition to its accolade as the most-played RPG of the year, Starfield received the most coverage of any game in 2023. As such, the game has constantly stayed relevant in the public eye.

Bethesda Game Studios has plans to keep things this way, promising to launch various updates leading up to the release of the first expansion.

Mod support on consoles, new ways to travel, and more content are just a few of the things fans can look forward to in 2024.

On the other hand, Baldur’s Gate 3 is mostly complete already. A small team at Larian Studios is working on supporting the game, but no major content updates are planned for the future.

Abiyan

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Laiba, our tech guru at HI Digital, simplifies and crafts How-To Guides with a Google IT Support Certificate. Beyond tech, she captures the city’s aesthetics through her lens. Join her journey where tech meets creativity!

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