Starfield goes gold, preload starts tomorrow on console and Windows PC

Fans have been waiting for a long time to find out when the Starfield preload will go live, and out the blue Bethesda has confirmed dates.

In a simple tweet, developer Bethesda Game Studios said “Prepare for launch. Starfield has gone gold! Preloads begin tomorrow for Xbox Series S|X and Windows PC and August 30th for Steam”.

The tomorrow in question is August 17th, so if you’re reading this after then, the Starfield preload has already gone live. If you don’t know what a preload is, it basically means if you have pre-purchased the game, or in the case of Starfield, you’ve got Game Pass on Windows PC or Xbox Series S|X, you can download the game ahead of time, meaning that on release date you can simply play it. Or in some case, at worst, you’ll only need a small patch or update to download to let you get playing right away. Either way, it’s quicker than downloading the full game on release day.

Steam users will have to wait until August 30th for their Starfield preload to become active, but it’s still ahead of the release date, so not too bad. If you do pay extra for the premium edition of the game, however, you can get playing earlier on September 1st, instead of the September 6th release date that’s the global launch date.

There’s been plenty of news about Starfield lately, including the release of an anthology of animated stories, but also AMD announced a limited edition themed GPU and CPU that would come with Starfield looking designs and packaging.

Hype is pretty much at boiling point for fans of the game as it’s the first new series from Bethesda Game Studios in 25 years, and is also an Xbox console exclusive, so there’s a lot riding on it.