BG 3 and Starfield: An Amateur's Overview of Revenue

[Eqqsquizitine Buble-Schwinslow]

So I did a bunch of math to post in a thread on a certain discussion forum related to a certain game, but the thread got deleted before I was done and ready to post, so I'm posting it all here because I don't want "my work" to go to waste.


Number of estimated BG3 owners on Steam is roughly 4.16 million, according to PlayTracker.

Number of estimated Starfield owners on Steam is roughly 651.2 thousand, also according to PlayTracker.

(Playtracker is the only source of estimated owner count that Starfield currently has, so obviously I had to go with that one.)


Baldur's Gate 3 has a base cost of 59.99€, or $59.99 for Americans.
Starfield has a base cost of 69.99€, or $69.99 for Americans.

The deluxe edition of Baldur's Gate 3 costs 69.74€.
The deluxe edition of Starfield costs 99,99€.


4 160 000 x 59.99 = 249 558 400.
4 160 000 x 69.99 = 291 158 400

This means that Baldur's Gate 3, as of right now, has made somewhere between 249 to 291 million dollars/euro, a bit less in dollars but a bit more in euro since currently the dollar is worth more than the euro.


651 200 x 69.99 = 45 577 488
651 200 x 99.99 = 65 113 488

This means that, by equal metrics, Starfield has currently made somewhere between 45 - 65 million, once again a bit less in dollars but a bit more in euro.

So, BG3: 249 - 291 million.
Starfield: 45 - 65 million.

Starfield has made roughly a fifth of what Baldur's Gate 3 has on Steam.
Admittedly, Starfield can also be purchased on the Windows Store, but even if we doubled the revenue of Starfield to account for this, it would still be less than half of that of BG3.


As for consoles:
Baldur's Gate 3 will only release on PS5.
Starfield will only release on Xbox.

This will likely skew the revenue even further towards Baldur's Gate 3 once both games are available on their respective console, since there's roughly two PS5 owners in the world for every Xbox Series X/S owner.


Tl;Dr:
Despite asking for more money per purchase, Starfield is currently a fifth as lucrative as BG3 judging by Steam sales and game prices. There is also no solid indication that this will change significantly in Starfield's favor further down the line.


This thread isn't meant to start a war over which game is best/worse, but merely to validate my ♥♥♥♥♥♥ work.

[Mopar]

It is hard to get any kind of real play or purchase numbers.

BG3 had a long early access with a ton of purchases. Then the rush at release and the fact it also releases on GoG.

Starfield is still technically in early access for 2 more days however the purchase rate should be considered launch since so many people are in the early access and videos of game play with open discussions are everywhere.

As for Consoles, BG3 is about to on on PS5 but Starfield is about to on XBOX as noted. However, BG3 is COMING to XBOX just with a feature for split play maybe added later.

[Ingrapiata]

Very interesting research, thanks for sharing!

[emp456]

Interesting, indeed, good work.

I am very glad to see this kind of things happening. It's a shame that no "big" publisher will ever learn from this despite losing the GOTY and other awards to Larian.

Price as always for a big game, no "ultimate platinum elitist" versions for 100 euro, DRM-free (fck Denuvo), no forced always-online or 3rd party launcher, GOG release, no exclusive Epic shht, a polished and finished game, lots of content, incredible music, etc.

This years awards have been a kick in the face for all the "AAA" publishers with all their anti-consumer garbage, and that feels sooooo great. Sony, Bethesda, Microsoft, Capcom, Nintendo, Ubi, EA...all beaten by an independent studio without anti-consumer practices and self-publishing. Yeah, this has been glorious.

Anyway, thanks for sharing!