Bethesda Face Mass Backlash, Starfield On PS5 Plagued By Crashes, Performance Issues, Bugs, Glitches

TL;DR

Starfield's PS5 launch is riddled with frequent crashes, freezes, and broken saves, continuing Bethesda's pattern of shipping technically broken games.

Key Points

• 1.Starfield's PS5 launch is critically broken at release. Both base PS5 and PS5 Pro versions crash regularly during testing per Digital Foundry, with users reporting 20+ freezes, broken save creation, and some unable to land on planets at all.
• 2.Sony approved refunds despite strict no-refund digital policies. The severity of the crashes prompted PlayStation to make exceptions, a rare move that signals the launch state is genuinely unacceptable by platform standards.
• 3.The free Lanes update and Terran Armada DLC launched alongside the PS5 version to mixed results. The DLC scored 45% on Steam from 506 users, criticized for being short and repetitive, while player counts only peaked around 30,000 concurrent — underwhelming for a major content drop.
• 4.The Xbox Series X version also regressed technically after the update. Digital Foundry found new stutters in the opening sequence and demanding scenes that weren't present before, meaning the patch worsened an already-released platform.
• 5.Bethesda acknowledged the crashes on April 14th but the damage to reputation is compounding. Their statement promised a hotfix 'this week,' but critics note this launch-broken pattern has persisted for years, and competitors like Crimson Desert have shown faster, more consistent post-launch patching as the new industry standard.