Starfield Is Top-Selling Game of September

The discussion on subscriptions within gaming has certainly changed the conversation about sales for developers and publishers. When a game joins the Xbox Game Pass library, for example, Microsoft pays for that game to be on the service for subscribers. That said, many wonder if that ends up hurting games more since those subscribers may not purchase the game. According to sales numbers for September, that wasn’t an issue for Xbox’s biggest release this year. Starfield launched on Game Pass and still took the top-selling game title of its launch month.

Circana (formerly NPD Group) analyst Mat Piscatella shared statistics for the top-selling games of September. In this report, Starfield took the top title for units sold, led primarily by PC sales. Mortal Kombat 1, FC 24, and Madden NFL 24 took the next three slots. It’s surprising to some that Starfield would sell so well when Xbox Game Pass for PC or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers could download the game for free, but it’s a clearer picture of what these subscriptions mean for the industry than you think.

Overall, subscriptions like PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass create a fallacy in the subscriber’s mind that they’re getting access to all of these games for free, but are simply paying for access to them. As a long-time Xbox Game Pass subscriber, I find myself also thinking things like “I sure am glad I don’t have to pay for Lies of P,” even though I’m paying Xbox for access to it through their service. All in all, subscribers to these services total into the millions, but they are not the only people playing games.

Subscription services to any media mean you do not own the titles you stream or download. Many still hold value in owning a game, even if it’s more easily accessible and potentially cheaper over the long run than buying individual games you want to play. Starfield topping the sales charts in September shows that clearly.

Plenty of PC players wanted to own a Bethesda RPG rather than gain access to it for a short while. Of course, whether it was worth is it a subjective discussion for all who played the space adventure. Let us know if you’re buying games even if they’re available on Xbox Game Pass in the comments.