Starfield has just had its best-ever week of sales in almost three years’ time, which was undoubtedly brought about thanks to Bethesda’s recent marketing and content push for the game. Though Starfield hasn’t truly reached the heights of its spiritual predecessors, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, the developer’s continuous work on the project proves that it’s got the same sort of staying power after all.
Bethesda’s latest first-party sandbox RPG offering has turned out rather polarizing in a broad sense. Some absolutely adore Starfield for its space exploration and ship-building gameplay, while others believe it’s a dull experience that doesn’t follow established Bethesda RPG design principles. Thankfully, the developer hasn’t given up on the project, and the latest batch of updates for Starfield has resulted in an improved community sentiment and, as it turns out, solid sales.
Starfield Sales Surge After Nearly Three Years
Starfield was the best-selling video game of the week in tracked physical & digital US full game dollar sales during the week ending April 11th. It’s the first time Starfield has led the weekly US best-selling titles chart since week ending Sept 2, 2023. Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-04-20T15:28:18.146Z
Bethesda’s continued marketing push for Starfield appears to have done the game good, as per industry analyst and Circana lead Mat Piscatella. According to his data, Starfield was the best-selling game of the week of April 11, referencing physical and digital US dollar sales information. This coincides with the release of Starfield‘s Free Lanes update, its biggest ever, which came out alongside the paid Terran Armada DLC on PC, Xbox Series, and – perhaps most crucially – PlayStation 5. As per Piscatella’s post, this is the single best week of sales Starfield has had in almost three years’ time, which is an impressive feat.
The bit that may muddle the data somewhat is that prior reports suggest Starfield‘s sales on PlayStation 5 have been “middling.” Notably, this information came from Alinea Analytics, which is a third-party analyst company that hasn’t always been particularly accurate in its reporting. Circana, on the other hand, is considered to be a reputable primary source focusing on finalized sales numbers. Piscatella hasn’t provided concrete sales numbers, of course, so the reality could go either way, and it’s worth looking at both of these sources with a somewhat critical eye.
One thing that can definitely be relied upon is that Starfield is doing better than it’s done for years, and that’s thanks to Bethesda’s recent updating efforts. The paid Terran Armada DLC adds a host of new features to the game, like bot invasions and dynamic objectives for players to chase. Perhaps even more important than the new DLC, however, was the Free Lanes content update, which introduced Starfield‘s interplanetary Cruise Mode feature, giving players an entirely new and exciting exploration loop.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Starfield has had some teething issues on PS5, of course, with Bethesda pushing out hotfixes to resolve them as soon as possible. If Circana’s reporting is anything to go by, this doesn’t appear to have greatly diminished the game’s performance on the platform. In fact, it’s possible Bethesda may now be planning more large-scale content releases for Starfield, if it really has been doing this well.
- Released
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September 6, 2023
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ / Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Strong Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases
