Starfield runs at 30fps on Xbox Series X and S

Starfield runs on the Xbox Series X and S at 30fps. There is no question of a performance mode in which the graphics, resolution or both go down and the fps go up. The maker ‘does not want to compromise on this’ and does promise ‘consistency’; the game could often run above 30fps.

Bethesda CEO Todd Howard said this in an interview with IGN. He emphasizes that the worlds of Bethesda’s RPGs are always large and open, very detailed and that ‘anything can happen in them’. Howard does not want to ‘sacrifice’ that and he attaches great importance to the reliability of a frame rate that does not fluctuate. The fact that the frame rate exceeds 30fps and sometimes even 60fps will mean that the console sometimes has to work less hard, given the lock Howard talks about. Furthermore, the game runs in 1440p on Series S and 4K on Series X.

Modern consoles support higher refresh rates than before: the Xbox Series can output 120Hz images, as can the PlayStation 5, for which Starfield is not released. The consoles also have support for variable refresh rates, which makes framerate changes less annoying to watch and eliminates screen tearing. Game makers are free to take advantage of this by reducing the quality of the images so that the frame rate can be increased.

Bethesda also released a host of new information about Starfield during a special presentation yesterday. The game will be released on September 6 for Windows and the latest generation of Xbox.