Hopes are high: Starfield rockets to second place in Steam's global bestsellers list

pcgamer.com:

Starfield is available for pre-purchase now, and Bethesda's space RPG is already the number two bestseller on Steam, beneath only Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

The chart is based on revenue, which is what explains why a free-to-play game like CS:GO can sit at the top. On the US chart, Starfield is in third place, with the $399 Steam Deck overtaking it for second, which is again explained by revenue being the deciding factor as opposed to the number of units sold.

Starfield ain't exactly cheap either, though. The Starfield base edition costs $70, reflecting a recent industry-wide price bump for certain «triple-A» games. There's also a $100 Digital Premium Edition, which gets you five days of early access, the first story expansion (which they've already announced the name of: Shattered Space), some skins, and digital copies of the soundtrack and artbook.

The Starfield Direct, an all-Starfield showcase that followed the broader Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday, clearly did the job Microsoft and Bethesda were looking for it to do: People want this dang game. It's seen as the next Skyrim, which is still one of the most played games on Steam over a decade after it released. Big shoes.

There's lots to like about what we've seen. Starfield's trait system looks like a lot of fun, for instance: just some proper open world RPG goofiness, like the option to have alien DNA or parents you can visit, and the return of the Adoring Fan from The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. 

We've also had some less positive reactions on the team—Robin's not into the cowboys—but clearly a lot of people are confident that Bethesda's going to deliver a game they're happy to have spent 70-plus dollars for at launch, even with Bethesda's record of buggy