As we approach the much-anticipated Starfield release date, a question burns in the minds of players who own the base game through Xbox Game Pass: can you play Starfield early with Game Pass?
The prospect of diving headfirst into the expansive universe of Starfield and exploring its planets at the earliest opportunity is quite enticing. However, the question that looms is whether such a possibility can be turned into a reality.
In this guide, we'll navigate the cosmos of information to uncover the possibilities of playing Starfiled early with Game Pass.
Can you play Starfield early with Game Pass?
You can play Starfield early with Game Pass, but there's a catch – you have to spend a bit of money.
To play Starfield early with Game Pass, you'll need to purchase the Premium Edition Upgrade. With this upgrade, you gain the benefit of early access and can start playing Starfield a whole five days early.
The Premium Edition Upgrade of Starfield is available for £34.99 / $34.99 and includes not only the early access advantage of five days but also all the bonus items that are included with the full Premium Edition purchase.
Bethesda Game Studios has explicitly confirmed that when players who own the base game through Xbox Game Pass acquire the Premium Edition Upgrade, they will gain early access to Starfield. So, it indeed works.
Normally, Starfield early access would cost you around $99.99/£99.99. So, when you compare that to the £34.99 / $34.99 you're spending for early access, it's actually a pretty good deal. This enticing choice is expected to crush Xbox revenue records.
Now that you have learned how to play Starfield early with Game Pass, let’s find out the exact release time of the game in your local time zone.
Starfield early access release times
If you have pre-ordered or purchased the Premium Edition Upgrade, you will get early access to Starfield. That means you’ll be able to start playing the game on either August 31 or September 1 depending on your time zone.
Here are the specific early access release times for Starfield based on your local time:
- Los Angeles: August 31 at 5 PM
- Mexico City: August 31 at 6 PM
- Chicago: August 31 at 7 PM
- New York: August 31 at 8 PM
- Sao Paulo: August 31 at 9 PM
- London: September 1 at 1 AM
- Paris: September 1 at 2 AM
- Berlin: September 1 at 2 AM
- Riyadh: September 1 at 3 AM
- New Delhi: September 1 at 5:30 AM
- Hong Kong: September 1 at 8 AM
- Beijing: September 1 at 8 AM
- Tokyo: September 1 at 9 AM
- Sydney: September 1 at 10 AM
- Auckland: September 1 at 12 PM
If you're eager to start playing Starfield as early as possible, which is on August 31, you can achieve this by changing your location to Los Angeles.
On PC, you can use a VPN service to change your location. On Xbox, go to Profile & system > Settings > System > Language & location, then select United States from the drop-down list under Location.
And with that, we are wrapping up our guide. If you weren't aware, Starfield is still fixing classic Bethesda bugs and they released an update on August 28. So if you have already preloaded Starfield, just make sure your game is fully updated.