Starfield inadvertently reveals its ESRB rating

Starfield news flies thick and fast as we approach its confirmed release date on September 6. Recently, Bethesda has leaked the game’s ESRB rating—on its own Twitter page, no less. 

On Starfield’s banner photo, one can see that the game has been rated M for Mature, which includes “violence, blood, use of drugs, strong language, and suggestive themes.”

Now, it's highly unlikely that the rating will raise more than a few eyebrows. Most will remember that one of Bethesda’s most popular and enduring games ever made, Skyrim, received a Mature Rating in the United States for violent imagery and the use of drugs like Skooma. Similarly, the Fallout series was all about the gore, violence, and inhaling Jet to mow downloads of Super Mutants with a mini-nuke. Starfield having a Mature rating is pretty much par for the course. 

Watching the stars 

What's important is that both Microsoft and players are watching Starfield very closely. This scrutiny is largely due to the apparent dismal performance of another Xbox exclusive, Arkane Studio’s Redfall. The vampire shooter was Microsoft’s first release after acquiring Bethesda, and unfortunately, players are tuning out in droves. One of the issues that hurt Redfall was its late announcement that the game would be locked to 30fps on the Xbox. 

As such, players are treating Starfield with some skepticism, especially since Bethesda has committed to launching in September without further delays to polish the game. It got to the point that Xbox head Phil Spencer announced that they will reveal Starfield’s performance level ahead of time, likely during the showcase on June 11. With Redfall’s negative critical reception, Xbox needs a win and a lot is riding on Starfield. 

Starfield is launching on September 9 for Xbox Series X|S and PC. You can pre-order Bethesda’s sci-fi opus by picking up a Starfield CD key from our comparator.