How many planets are in Starfield?

It’s no secret that Starfield will be a game of massive proportions. Just how massive, however, will be mostly based on the number of planets that players will be able to explore in Starfield.

From the trailers and gameplay footage we have seen so far, this game is Bethesda’s largest world yet, as one might expect from a game set in outer space. Naturally, many fans have wondered exactly how large the entire world of Starfield will be, which can’t be defined as simply as it can in other open-world games.

To answer the question of how big Starfield will be, we need to know just how many planets are in the game and how many of them will actually contain forms of life.

The number of planets in Starfield

In the marketing material for Starfield, Bethesda has boasted that Starfield will contain over 1,000 planets for players to explore. This is, obviously, a giant number of different worlds that players have access to. However, that number is slightly misleading.

In reality, the planets will likely not be explorable in their entirety. Instead, each planet could have a map with set boundaries in place, as a normal open-world map would. This has not been confirmed by the developers, but it’s the most probable outcome.

Furthermore, Bethesda has stated that only around 100 of the 1,000+ total planets will contain forms of life. This means that over 900 planets will be barren landscapes that won’t feature much of anything to interact with or explore. Although, these barren planets could be great for base-building, as nothing would be in your way. On these planets, you will experience procedurally-generated environments that contain resources for you to collect.

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Of course, you will likely want to stick mostly with the planets that contain life. These planets will be where you can interact with NPCs and other creatures as well as accept quests, purchase items from vendors, and do most of your exploration.

That’s currently what we know of the planets in Starfield and how they will be treated. You can find out exactly how the planetary system works in Starfield when it launches on Sept. 6 for Xbox Series X|S and PC.