Starfield Launch Details Revealed: Preload, Release Date, And More

We now have the preload date and other details for Microsoft’s big release for Xbox this year, Starfield.

Starfield releases on September 6, 2023, on Xbox Series X|S, and on Windows via Steam. It will also be Day One on Game Pass, giving players a myriad of options, though Game Pass get the most choice. If you have a Game Pass subscription, you don’t even have to pay. You then get to choose to download, or stream the game, on either your Xbox console or Windows.

As reported by Windows Central, the preload date is set at August 25, 2023, giving fans a week to download the game well in advance. As of right now, we don’t know the file size of the preload. There is a 350 MB preload available for Starfield for either Xbox or PC, but that obviously won’t be the real file size.

We do know the final game itself will be 125 GB, on both Windows and Xbox Series X|S. That will be a massive download, but that’s all the more reason to make the preload as big as possible. Of course, we do expect it to be closer to 125 GB at the end of August. Microsoft also states that the game requires an SSD. While it’s inevitable that some gamers will try to run the game on a HDD, if you can help it, obviously, you don’t want to be the person who gets to try out what that experience will be like.

Early Access is scheduled for September 1, 2023. As we had previously reported, that will also be the date that streamers and YouTubers will get to play the game, and they have license to start streaming it at that point.

Reviewers, however, will be getting their review codes next week. That should give them sufficient time to make a proper review, or even a review in progress, for Starfield. This isn’t a part of our report but it isn’t unlikely that there are some reviewers who were given preferential treatment and are already playing Starfield now for their upcoming review.

Whichever way you look at it, there won’t be long now before Microsoft releases, what is not only their biggest release of this year, but their first major release for the Xbox Series X|S since Halo Infinite. Given the topsy turvy last few months of the company, between Redfall’s release and the Activision deal, Starfield’s success or failure will determine if this is a good or bad year for Microsoft.