Oof. Xbox Series X/S players will have to put up with 30 fps in Starfield, Todd Howard has confirmed to IGN in an interview.
"I think it'll come as no surprise, given our previous games, what we go for," Howard told the site. "Always these huge, open worlds, fully dynamic, hyper detail where anything can happen. And we do want to do that. It's 4K in the X. It's 1440 on the S. We do lock it at 30, because we want that fidelity, we want all that stuff. We don't want to sacrifice any of it.
"Fortunately in this one, we've got it running great. It's often running way above that. Sometimes it's 60. But on the consoles, we do lock it because we prefer the consistency, where you're not even thinking about it."
Fair enough, I suppose, but I personally turn down graphics settings—"all that stuff"—until I'm getting at least 60 fps, if not more. I'd much rather lose some shadow quality than play games at 30 fps on my 144Hz monitor. But I suppose that's why I play games on PC.
Starfield's PC system requirements are a bit weird, so we're waiting to see if Bethesda revises the specs listed on Steam, but they also aren't extraordinarily demanding for a new game. On the GPU front, it asks for a GeForce 1070 Ti or Radeon RX 5700 at minimum, but recommends a GeForce RTX 2080 or Radeon RX 6800 XT. (Phew, my GeForce RTX 2070 Super just skates by.)
Here are the full recommended specs:
- OS: Windows 10/11 with updates
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, Intel i5-10600K
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 125 GB available space
- Additional Notes: SSD Required
We're not sure why the broadband requirement (maybe for downloading updates, or maybe it requires a constant internet connection?) and the SSD requirement is a little unusual, although they are standard in gaming PCs these days.
It's also not clear what those recommended specs will get you: 60 fps at 1440p? That'd be nice. Starfield has some impressive vistas, but it's no marvel of rendering, so I'd hope we're not struggling too hard to see those glassy-eyed NPCs at 60+ fps. We haven't confirmed yet whether or not Starfield will support Nvidia DLSS or AMD FSR, but that'd help.
At least PC players will have the option to play at 60 fps or higher, even if it means upgrading their hardware.
Xbox owners, if you're thinking of joining us: our mid-range gaming PC build guide is one place to start, and we've also recommended pre-built gaming PCs.
If you missed today's big Starfield Direct, here's everything we learned about Bethesda's space RPG.
