Starfield: Release Date, Early Access, Required Specs And Everything We Know

As gamers prepare for early access to the highly-anticipated Bethesda title Starfield, there are a few things to know before it launches players into the great unknown. Early access will be granted on the evening of August 31, 2023 for those who preordered the Premium Edition or the Constellation Edition, while all others will have to wait until September 6 to board a spaceship for intergalactic travel.

Starfield has been getting a lot of hype ahead of its release as players have been waiting for Bethesda to give them access to the massive open galaxy it has created. Many have already pre-downloaded the game via Microsoft's Game Pass, with the Premium Edition coming in at a whopping 132GB of storage space needed. While some have opted to try out the game for free on September 6 with a Game Pass subscription, others are not willing to wait and have opted to either upgrade from the Standard Edition via Game Pass, or by buying the higher-level editions on Steam.

Global release times can be viewed via the infographic below. Those on the east coast of the US will be able to jump in through early access on August 31st at 8pm EST, and those not willing to upgrade on September 6th at 8pm EST.

All Starfield editions include the base game, while the Premium Edition also includes the Shattered Space Story Expansion, early access, a Constellation skin pack, and access to the Starfield Digital Artbook and original soundtrack. For those willing to shell out more money, the Constellation Edition includes all of the Premium Edition content as well as a credit stick with laser-etched game code, a Steelbook display case, a constellation patch, and a Starfield Chronomark watch and case. Those who preorder or have an active Game Pass subscription at launch will also be privy to some bonus cosmetics and extra content which include a laser cutter, deep mining helmet, and a deep mining pack.


Steam has laid out Starfield's minimum and recommended specs for those concerned about whether their PC is up to snuff. At minimum Steam suggests players have at least an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X or an Intel Core i7-6800K, 16GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon RX 5700, or NVIDIA GeForce 1070 Ti. For running the game at higher resolutions, Steam suggests players have an AMD Ryzen 5 3600X or an Intel Core i5-10600K, 16GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, or an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080. Regardless gamers will need at least 125GB of SSD storage available to download Starfield.


One way of keeping up with all the information concerning the launch and content of Starfield is to follow the official @StarfieldGame account on X/Twitter. The account has been sharing information about characters within the game, as well as snippets of content like how gamers will be able to tell their own story through backgrounds and traits right down to individual skills.

As early access approaches quickly, the hype is certain to grow with anticipation for a game that is Bethesda's first new IP in over 25 years. Starfield is a single-player game that will be available on Xbox Series X/S, and on PC via the Microsoft Store and Steam.