Starfield Early Access: Why Won’t Game Launch

Starfield Early Access is set to launch on September 1, 2023, giving fans five full days with the game before its official release on September 6, 2023. However, various issues with the Microsoft Store and game files are preventing players from being able to start the title.

There are a few reasons why players might not be able to play Starfield, all of which are incredibly frustrating for fans worldwide who have stayed up late or taken time off of work to be able to play the title as much as possible over the early access weekend.

Related: Starfield Review: The Definitive Space RPG

Starfield Early Access Failure to Launch Explained

Starfield should launch directly from the Microsoft Store or Steam from September 1, 2023. At the time of writing, players are reporting various issues that are preventing them from being able to play. For some, the game files require unpacking before the title will start.

We’ve found that on Xbox Series X/S and the Microsoft Store on a web browser, our purchase of Starfield is no longer registering, meaning it won’t allow us to play because it can’t see that we’ve purchased the game.

Despite finding a fix for Starfield early access not loading, as can be seen below, the Microsoft Store still doesn’t register that we own Starfield Premium Edition. We suspect that an issue on Microsoft’s end caused by the sheer number of fans flooding the website has caused an issue to occur that temporarily prevented players from launching the game.

How to fix Starfield Early Access Not Launching

We can confirm that uninstalling the premium content for Starfield and reinstalling it, then restarting the device, will get the game to load and allow players to jump in and play. This is the method we used to get the game to work on our Xbox Series X, and even though it took a few tries, we’re heading for the stars.

Some players have reported that a full system restart has allowed them to start playing Starfield. Others say that they’ve had to uninstall the premium content and then reinstall it before their device would launch the title. This fix indicates that the files didn’t automatically allow the early access period to begin. One final fix some players have shared is launching the game from the Manage Content menu, which bypasses the main game screen area on Xbox Devices.