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When is Starfield early access? Date, UK time & how to get access

Looking to get a jumpstart on Bethesda's new space RPG? Here's what you need to know.

A stunning screenshot from Starfield showing a spaceship travelling through space

Bethesda/Xbox

Published: Wednesday, 30 August 2023 at 3:39 pm

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After years upon years of waiting, Starfield is closer than ever. If you simply can't wait any more and want to get a head start on your space adventures, then you might want to take a punt on Starfield early access.

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Considering that Starfield is likely to offer hundreds of hours' worth of exploration among the stars, having that extra time could prove wholly useful in the long run.

In fact, Starfield is set to feature more than 1,000 planets across 100 star systems, so it's fair to say there's plenty to do.

So what is Starfield early access? It essentially gets you access to the Bethesda game ahead of its 6th September 2023 global release date.

There are various ways to do this, with different times available depending on where you are located in the world. Let's break it all down below.

When is Starfield early access?

Starfield key art, with a man in a space suit overlooking a rocky planet

Starfield. Bethesda

Starfield early access starts on 1st September 2023 – five days before the official launch of the game on 6th September 2023. The game will be available to play exclusively across Xbox Series X/S and PC.

It's also worth noting that Bethesda's official description for early access states that "actual play time depends on the purchase date and is subject to possible outages and applicable time zone differences".

Bethesda is more known for its games having bugs rather than major technical outages at launch, so we think it's unlikely early access will be hindered come the big day. This is a single-player game, too, so no online multiplayer components are involved.

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What UK time does Starfield early access start?

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UK players can begin their Starfield adventures on Friday 1st September at 1am BST. It might be worth booking off that Friday if you do decide to jump on after midnight.

Starfield early access start time differs depending on what country and timezone you are based in. See below for a selection of Starfield early access timezones:

How to get Starfield early access

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Starfield early access can be obtained by purchasing any version of the game outside of the Starfield Standard Editon. This includes the Starfield Digital Premium Edition, Starfield Premium Edition Upgrade and Starfield Constellation Edition.

The Starfield Digital Premium Edition is available for £99.99 at Amazon. Alongside the five-day early access to the game itself, it arrives with three in-game bonus skins (Laser Cutter, Deep Mining Helmet and Deep Mining Pack), the Shattered Space Story expansion upon release, a Constellation Skin Pack, as well as access to Starfield Digital Artbook and original soundtrack.

The Starfield Premium Edition Upgrade is available for £34.99 at Amazon. The difference here is that you will need to own the base game itself to make the upgrade. This can be done via the Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Store with certain retailers offering the same incentive, such as Amazon.

Any physical purchases will receive everything in Digital Premium Edition – including five-day early access – along with a Steelbook Display Case and Constellation Patch.

Finally, the Starfield Constellation Edition is available for £249.99 at GAME. In addition to arriving with everything from the previous versions, players will also take home a Credit Stick with a laser-etched game code, as well as the Starfield Chronomark Watch and Case.

Read more on Starfield:

Subscribe to our free Gaming Newsletter for weekly insights, and follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

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Authors

Matt PoskittFreelance Writer

Matt Poskitt is a freelance journalist who specialises in arts and culture – be that movies, TV, video games, tech or otherwise. Matt headed up the games and entertainment section at T3 (Future Publishing), alongside being found across The Guardian, CNET, PC Gamer Mag, GamesIndustry.biz, Insider, iNews, IGN, TechRadar, PC Gamer Mag, NME and many more.

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