Starfield is "critically important" for Xbox Game Pass, according to Microsoft's Jerret West. He told GI.biz that there is "no question" that Starfield will play a role in driving new subscribers to Game Pass, though the company also expects standard purchases to be strong as well.

"[Starfield] certainly will drive Game Pass subscriptions [and] it will certainly drive a lot of base game purchases, because it really does come down to just the purchase preference," West said.

West, a former Netflix executive, went on to say that a big game like Starfield might bring people into the Game Pass fold and then once they're subscribed, they might play more games in the catalog and spend more time on the Xbox platform overall. That's the aim for a subscription service like Game Pass, he said.

"There is no question that Starfield is critically important for something like Game Pass because it attracts new consumers," West said. "But really what sustains a subscriptions business is when you attract consumers and then also engage them. And these types of games, Vampire Survivors, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Jusant, Pentiment, these are the games where people play and find joy, and they discover them in a subscription model where they might not want to pay $60, $70 or something like that. So, it plays a vital role in discovery of new types of IP, but also in driving more engagement for the subscription as well."

Starfield becomes playable today, August 31, for people who buy the $100 Premium edition or those who purchase the $35 upgrade. Anyone hoping to take advantage of the $1 Game Pass trial offer is out of luck, as Microsoft quietly erased the offer just ahead of Starfield's release.

Starfield reviews will begin to appear on the internet at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET today, August 31, and the game will be playable starting today at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET. The game's standard edition unlocks on September 6.