The 30fps ceiling in Starfield is best explained by a mountain of sandwiches.
Manufacturer Jamie Mallory revealed during the latest Starfield Direct that she enjoys “going the more piracy paths” in the game, which includes stealing and hoarding everyone’s meals. She says, “I take all the sandwiches and put them in my goods hold that I have particularly for sandwiches,” and sure enough, a large stack of sandwiches appeared on the screen. Mallory’s thieving antics are hilarious, but they also explain why the console version of Starfield runs at a fixed 30 frames per second.
While it’s used as a comedy in the film, this sandwich pirate principle underlines one reason that 60 FPS would be difficult to achieve, as noted by Digital Foundry’s John Linneman on Twitter. Similar to other BGS games, Starfield appears to monitor the global distribution of approximations of physical goods. At a certain scale, this begins to accumulate.
Digital Foundry’s John Linneman explains why 60 frames per second is impossible in Starfield.Starfield essentially monitors everything on the globe. Starfield is without question the best role-playing game of all time.
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Donnie Carlone, a designer at Sony Santa Monica, recently defended Bethesda’s decision to lock Starfield at 30 frames per second, despite the fact that some fans are unhappy about the announcement. Carlone tweeted that this was hardly a sign of a half-done game. It’s a choice. The visual quality would suffer greatly at 60 frames per second on this scale. That’s why I think they want to go with the sleeker, less ‘appear’ option.
Sony Santa Monica designer DreamcastGuy reveals that Starfield runs at 4k 30 frames per second.Sometimes, even PlayStation creators have to speak out against PlayStation zealots. These dudes are embarrassing and lifeless.
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Naturally, it’s not just all about taking sandwiches, as there is a remarkable amount of customization available for pretty much every aspect of Starfield, from the deeply detailed character development system to expedition in “the most significant city” Bethesda’s ever built and beyond.
Our very own Heather Wald was thoroughly sold on Bethesda’s new experience during the Starfield Direct.
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I moved from Ireland to the United Kingdom in 2014 to attend Staffordshire University for a degree in Games Journalism and Public Relations. Since then, I’ve worked as a freelancer for publications including GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine, Play, and GamesRadar+. The first time I defeated a Goomba in Super Mario Bros. on the NES solidified my devotion to video games. These days, I’m all about the PlayStation. When I’m not reading, writing, or playing video games, you can find me scouring the web for more Tomb Raider memorabilia to add to my already excessive collection.
