At long last, it's Starfield release time. After years of tiny teasers, big reveals, leaks, and delays, it's time to get comfortable in the co*ckpit for the official Starfield launch.
As we've found, it may not be immediately clear when you can actually play Starfield. There's the date that Bethesda is actually promoting as the launch date, then there's the date when certain players got Starfield early access, then there's the date that equates to for those of us on the back third of the world timezone map. Nobody wants to miss the chance to press the big "play" button as early as possible, so check our breakdown here to be sure you know exactly when Starfield launches for you.
When is the Starfield release time?
The official Starfield release time was at 5 pm Pacific on either August 31 or September 5, depending on which version you bought. Anyone who purchased the Premium Edition or higher was able to start playing on August 31. For standard edition players and those playing via Game Pass, launch day was September 5.
- Starfield early access: August 31
- Starfield game pass launch: September 5
- Starfield full launch: September 5
Here's when the Starfield launch happened (Premium and Standard Edition respectively) in other timezones:
- 5 pm PDT, August 31/September 5 (Los Angeles)
- 8 pm EDT, August 31/September 5 (New York)
- 1 am BST, September 1/September 6 (London)
- 2 am CEST, September 1/September 6 (Berlin)
- 10 am AEST, September 1/September 6 (Sydney)
- 12 pm NZST, September 1/September 6 (Auckland)
Bethesda promoted September 6 as the official launch day, as that was the calendar date when the majority of players worldwide could start playing. But the internet has no timezone, and Starfield screenshots, gameplay, and opinions started appearing in the wild on August 31.
Some Premium Edition owners reported that Starfield didn't unlock for them on time when the "early access" period has began. A Bethesda Support account (which seems to be legit) indicated that this is a temporary error due to the number of players and the issue seems now to have largely passed.
Whether you're making your first space jumps ASAP or cooling your jets to play on Game Pass, get prepared for the journey with our guide to all the Starfield factions you can join, all the Starfield companions you can recruit along the way, and all the Starfield traits we've seen so far.
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Lauren Morton
Associate Editor
Lauren started writing for PC Gamer as a freelancer in 2017 while chasing the Dark Souls fashion police and accepted her role as Associate Editor in 2021, now serving as the self-appointed chief cozy games enjoyer. She originally started her career in game development and is still fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long books, longer RPGs, has strong feelings about farmlife sims, and can't stop playing co-op crafting games.
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