Bethesda’s Todd Howard Confirms Starfield Performance and Frame-Rate on Xbox Series X and S

Starfield runs at 30 frames per second on both Xbox Series X and S, Bethesda’s Todd Howard has confirmed.

Speaking to IGN in a new interview ahead of the Xbox and Starfield showcases, Howard said Starfield runs in 4K resolution on the Xbox Series X and 1440p on the Xbox Series S, but has locked Starfield at 30fps on console to ensure “consistency” of performance.

“I think it’ll come as no surprise, given our previous games, what we go for,” Howard said. “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.

“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.”

Clear confirmation of Starfield’s performance comes three months ahead of the game’s September 6 release date. Microsoft was heavily criticised for showing its previous exclusive, Redfall, running at 60fps ahead of launch then, less than a month before the game came out, announcing Arkane’s co-op vampire shooter Redfall would arrive locked at 30fps on Xbox Series X and S, with a 60fps performance mode to be patched in later.

On the consoles, we do lock it because we prefer the consistency, where you’re not even thinking about it

Xbox boss Phil Spencer then personally apologised for the failure of Arkane’s Redfall, which was widely panned upon launch. Spencer said in a May interview with Kinda Funny Games that Microsoft would revisit its development processes in the wake of Redfall’s release, and admitted Microsoft knew Redfall would run at 30fps on console at launch when the misleading gameplay was released.

Of course, Starfield and Redfall are different games, and if Starfield does release on console with a locked 30fps performance, it will be the smoothest, most consistent game Bethesda Game Studios has ever released at launch.

In case you missed it, here’s our Xbox showcase roundup, and here’s everything shown during the Starfield Direct. Check out our Summer of Gaming 2023 schedule to find out what’s coming next.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Send news tips to [email protected].