Starfield is 30fps on Xbox – “No surprise, given our previous games”

Bethesda had to deliver some bad news afterwards. star field‘s great deep dive overnight. The developer confirmed that the upcoming action RPG will lock at 30fps on both Xbox consoles.

While this is par for the course for Bethesda games on consoles, the news will disappoint anyone hoping for a fresh start on the most powerful new generation of consoles.

Bethesda’s Todd Howard said IGN in an interview that Xbox Series X gamers can expect 4K resolution, while Series S owners are limited to 1440p. Both are locked at 30fps, according to Howard, with no option to unlock the frame rate or aim for a lower resolution and potentially higher frame rate.

“I think it won’t be a surprise, given our previous games, what we’re looking for,” Howard said. “Always these huge, open worlds, totally dynamic, hyper-detailed where anything can happen.”

“We locked it down to 30, because we want that fidelity, we want all of those things. We don’t want to sacrifice any of that,” he added.

Howard is right that it’s not that surprising. Even setting aside the developer’s history with the console versions, all Starfield trailers on YouTube have been capped at 30fps. If you tend to pay attention to these things, you probably figured it out a while ago.

Interestingly, Howard confirms that the game can reach frame rates in excess of 30fps, making the lack of a performance mode all the more perplexing.

“Luckily, on this one, we’ve got it working really well. It often runs well above that. Sometimes it’s 60. But on consoles, we lock it down because we prefer consistency, where you’re not even thinking about it,” he explained.

Starfield launches on September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S. It’s a Day One Game Pass game, but you can play it up to five days early if you opt for the Premium Edition.