The highly anticipated game, Starfield, developed by Bethesda Game Studios, is set to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience on both the Xbox Series X and S consoles. In a recent interview with Todd Howard, the renowned game director, it was confirmed that Starfield will run at a consistent 30 frames per second (fps) on both consoles. This article explores the technical specifications and performance optimizations behind Starfield, ensuring a visually stunning and immersive gaming adventure for players.
Howard stated Starfield operates in 4K resolution on the Xbox Series X and 1440p on the Xbox Series S, but has been limited at 30 frames per second on console to guarantee "consistency" of performance. Howard was speaking to IGN ahead of the Xbox and Starfield demonstrations.
Howard said, "I think it'll come as no surprise, given our previous games, what we go for. 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."
He added, "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."
"And we don't ever want to sacrifice that experience that makes our games feel really, really special. So it feels great. We're really happy with how it feels even in the heat of battle. And we need that headroom because in our games, really anything can happen."
Three months before to the game's scheduled September 6 release, there is clear proof of Starfield's performance. When Microsoft revealed less than a month before the release of Arkane's co-op vampire shooter Redfall that it would ship with Xbox Series X and S locked at 30 frames per second with a 60 frames per second performance mode to be patched in later, the company received harsh criticism for showing its previous exclusive, Redfall, running at 60 frames per second ahead of launch.
Then, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer personally apologized for Arkane's Redfall's failure, which was critically lambasted upon release. In a May interview with Kinda Funny Games, Spencer stated that Microsoft will review its development procedures in the aftermath of Redfall's release. Spencer also acknowledged that Microsoft knew Redfall would operate at 30 frames per second on consoles at launch, despite the game's deceiving gameplay.
Starfield will be the smoothest, most reliable game Bethesda Game Studios has ever launched if it does debut on consoles with a fixed 30 frames per second performance. Of course, Starfield and Redfall are quite different games.