Starfield is unlikely to live up to Bethesda's expectations of becoming as long-lived a game as Skyrim. The peak player count dropped from 330,000 to 137,000 in the first month, and below 10,000 by the end of the year. Even more alarming is the low interest in the game's mods.
Skyrim, which has received 12 billion mod downloads over the years, added 21,406 new mods for the Special Edition in 2025. Meanwhile, Starfield only added 2,390. With built-in mod support and dozens of empty planets that could be a good field for modders, these results look weak. This highlights how small Starfield's popularity was compared to its predecessors.
Top 10 most modded games of 2025 (according to Nexus Mods):
- Skyrim: Special Edition — 21,410 mods
- Stardew Valley — 6,739 mods
- Fallout 4 — 6,724 mods
- Helldivers 2 — 6,132 mods
- Cyberpunk 2077 — 5,285 mods
- Baldur's Gate 3 — 4,676 mods
- Oblivion Remastered — 3,833 mods
- Fallout: New Vegas — 3,671 mods
- Marvel Rivals — 2,686 mods
- Starfield — 2,390 mods
Starfield ranks 11th on the list of the most modded games in Nexus history, with a total of 11,900 mods. To enter the top 10, the game needs to overtake Morrowind (14,300 mods). Rumors of Bethesda's plans to bring Starfield back in the style of Cyberpunk 2077 give hope that the game may soon take 10th place.
