SERIOUSLY, Starfield's 30 FPS Lock on Xbox Isn't a Big Deal

Starfield looks like Bethesda's biggest game yet, and undoubtedly one of the industry's biggest this year. It offers an array of systems, from crafting and procedurally generated worlds to space combat and main quests. With such massive scope and scale, you would expect some compromises.

Surely enough, as revealed by director Todd Howard, the sci-fi RPG runs at a locked 30 FPS on Xbox Series X/S for consistency and without sacrificing visual fidelity or gameplay complexity. While that hasn't stopped Starfield from becoming a best-seller on Steam, there are no doubt concerns over the frame rate, especially in this generation of powerful hardware.

So why isn't it a big deal, especially compared to other recent releases like Redfall? Find out here.

[toddsmith]

HARD disagree with this video. Lack of a 60fps performance mode is completely inexcusable for ANY Series X/PS5 game at this point. 60fps is the new performance standard on these consoles now and going back to 30fps is a deal killer IMO.

[chrisfearon]

They need a 60 fps 1440p mode. Even 1080p is TOTALLY acceptable if the viewing distance from the TV is greater than the screen size. Being locked into 4K30 just sucks.

[FlameImperishable]

Maybe I’m weird, but 60fps immediately looks and feels better graphically. I always favor smooth gameplay over graphical fidelity when given an option. It’s tough to go back to 30. Even still…. Looking forward to Starfield!!

[gamerforlife]

I’ll take 60fps at 1440p any day. Why not add the option?

[Skyabovetheground]

For that game performance it will be definitely a 100% pc game

[SenZjo]

biggest problem is that they removed the option to go performance... I dont care about eye candy, but i do care about not getting sick because of the constant jitter of 30fps...

[GarfaGarfGarf]

Knowing Bethesda, the frame rate cap is probably to prevent the physics engine shitting its pants!

[RowdyRezik]

There’s no excuse for it just to be honest. Especially not after the delays. Bethesda can come up with all the excuses they want but there is 0 excuse to not at least have the option for 60fps on the series x

[fightedmealready]

Its a pretty big deal, most people have been on 60-120fps for a couple of years now and seeing 30FPS is a big difference and really noticeable. That’s not even to mention the fact that there could be FPS dips well below 30FPS if the stability isn’t good. We’re in 2023 and we need/deserve better, even though tears of the kingdom was great we absolutely deserve better in terms of performance

[jacobmoore]

It IS a big deal if you’re playing on an OLED with near instant pixel transition. You see things as they are, but hopefully they’ve smoothed it out for OLED’s as well. Hopefully they add VRR to get that 40-45 fps boost like they did with plague.

[PSYCHOVNM]

Performance modes exist on consoles for a reason.

There's ZERO excuse why they can't/won't offer a 60fps performance mode that reduces the graphics quality and/or lowers the resolution.

Don't tell me it's not possible on a 12 Teraflop console when even PS4 Pro and Xbox One X had performance modes for many games at the expense of lower resolution and reduced graphics.

[alienstales]

There are no excuses for a fps game to run at anything below 60 fps especially in 2023 and on new gen console, literally killed all the hype i had for the game

[kazuma]

That's cap. Just wait until you're in a firefight and the frames drop to 20 or below. Foh with giving exceptions just because of "scope". Unless it's rendering all 1000 planets at once I don't see the excuse for 30 fps LOCKED.

[naeem]

Dude we're paying atleast $70 for these "new gen " titles.. $70 is not cheap.. the customer's opinion matters.. locked 30fps is not it!

[VascovanZeller]

I'd rather say "SERIOUSLY nobody cares about visual fidelity if you can't reach 60 fps". I would have preferred worse graphics if that meant having smoother images.

[noobish]

It's really hard to go to 30 fps in this day and age. I didn't buy a series x to experience games at 30 fps, I was doing that 8 years ago with destiny. I just played Tony hawks 1 and 2 remake in 120 fps and doom eternal at 120 fps and rachet and clank and miles morales at 60 fps. 30 fps hurts my brain. I can tell you one thing for sure. If this was a big PlayStation 5 exclusive made by Sony game Studio it would have a performance mode and run at 60 fps guaranteed!

[Reknilador]

In a sea of incomplete unoptimized games people still try to justify 30 fps in 2023 on such a powerful console. We'll see when the game comes out, but there's a reason it's coming in 30fps, because people keep paying for garbage

[naraj]

Is it really not a big deal tho??? 12 teraflops for 30fps

[ImJustThatGamer]

Let me guess, you want to get early access. Stop giving excuses for the corporations.

[vivaladokky]

For me personally it is though... I believe this is one of the first true AAA non-crossgen, now current-gen title and not having an option makes Microsoft's early promises of 60fps games a lie. And we live in a world where VRR is a thing for probably most people, they should at least make 40fps an option. This is why I went for the Series-X for high framerate over high resolution. I would gladly take 1440p or even 1080p any day as long as the framerate is higher than 30