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Starfield will be locked to 30 fps on consoles

Todd Howard recently confirmed the locked FPS for Starfield on consoles, claiming the team wanted to keep the performance and fidelity consistent.

TJ Denzer

June 12, 2023 8:10 AM

Image via Xbox

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It looks like Starfield is going to have to play at 30 frames-per-second (fps) on consoles. The game had its big presentation over the weekend after the Xbox Games Showcase and floored many viewers with the grand-scale demonstration of its features. The game looked gorgeous and its features such as ground combat, spaceship building and flight, and character customization looked deep and fun. However, it seems the beauty of the game will have a catch on consoles, as explained by Todd Howard.

Howard went on IGN for an interview about Starfield following the Xbox Games Showcase on which it had a major segment. It was there that Howard explained that in order to keep the fidelity and performance of the game consistent, the team needed to lock it to 30 fps for the Xbox Series X and S consoles.

“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.”

Howard goes on to say that he also wanted it to be a thing where the player is so immersed in the game as it remains at that consistent 30 fps that eventually he hopes they won’t even notice.

“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,” Howard continued.

It will likely come as a disappointment to Xbox players that are concerned with graphics and frame rates. The game does look rather gorgeous, but it seems that for Xbox consoles, at least, that comes at a small price.

Nonetheless, Starfield had a big day and it’s looking like a winner for its September launch. Stay tuned for more details and updates as we get closer to its launch date.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.