The Game Census
Starbound cover art

Starbound

Chucklefish · 2016-07-22

SteamGOGMicrosoft Store

ActionAdventureCasualIndieRPG

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative · Perspectives: Side view

Releases: Jul 22, 2016 (Mac), Oct 24, 2024 (Xbox One), Oct 24, 2024 (Xbox Series X|S), Jul 22, 2016 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Jul 22, 2016 (Linux)

You’ve fled your home, only to find yourself lost in space with a damaged ship. Your only option is to beam down to the planet below, repair your ship and set off to explore the universe...

Starbound is an Action, Adventure, Casual, and Indie game released in 2016, priced at $14.99, with an estimated 2,000,000 .. 5,000,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (90% of 123,308 reviews).

434
playing now
90%
positive of 123k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
2,000,000–5,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
30
twitch viewers (latest)
15.0
viewers/channel (concentration)
87/100
critic score (5 outlets, IGDB)
71/100
IGDB user rating (232 ratings)
858
Nexus mods (2.6M downloads)
85/100
opencritic · mighty · 82% recommend · from 19 critics
51h
time to beat (IGDB)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$14.99
steam price (US)

434 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 10:00 UTC (census sample)

Starbound is a 2016 action-adventure game by Chucklefish. It takes place in a two-dimensional, procedurally generated universe which the player is able to explore in order to obtain new weapons, armor, and items, and to visit towns and villages inhabited by various intelligent lifeforms. Starbound was released out of early access in July 2016 for Windows, OS X, and Linux, and for Windows via Xbox Game Pass in December 2020. It was later released for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in October 2024.

Trailer

Starbound trailer thumbnail

Starbound - Xbox Launch Trailer

≈481,351 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 434 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 1,104 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~138/week).
  • · Review velocity down 17% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (26,817 reviews).
  • · Top 1% of 27,727 Action games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 3.1M–7.4M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 123,331 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$14.99
Microsoft Store$14.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $3.74 at Steam (2022-08-01) · bundled 6×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $19.99 · on sale 87 of 93 observed days · $11.25 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
26k26k20182026Week of 2018-03-01: 363 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 328 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 366 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 635 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 98 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 426 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 55 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 295 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 212 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 232 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 1,228 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 302 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 75 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 334 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 63 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 285 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 216 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 194 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 38 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 229 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 9,213 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 231 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 26,279 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 538 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 257 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 76 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 211 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 145 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 288 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 1,929 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 1,711 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 65 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 1,293 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 62 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 918 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 52 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 986 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 66 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 1,099 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 62 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 884 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 90 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 1,011 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 105 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 861 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 63 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 675 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 67 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 570 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 604 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 760 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 860 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 80 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 1,185 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 131 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 863 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 81 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 620 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 533 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 64 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 562 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 829 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 100 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 722 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 72 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 570 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 433 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 410 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 546 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 520 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 68 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 577 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 87 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 432 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 367 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 326 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 378 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 521 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 68 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 424 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 66 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 547 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 75 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 285 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 265 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 501 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 376 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 380 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 53 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 267 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 290 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 39 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 316 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 260 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 45 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 334 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 352 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 248 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 251 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 27 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 213 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 313 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 294 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 41 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 293 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 185 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 243 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 48 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 233 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 55 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 189 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 226 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 257 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 50 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 186 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 205 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 47 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 260 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 183 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 209 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 49 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 214 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 167 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 42 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 193 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 171 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 139 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 138 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 182 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 138 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 43 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 134 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 119 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 129 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 116 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 150 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 112 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 122 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 125 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 109 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 99 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 124 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 71 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 98 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 36 negativeWeek of 2026-09-01: 80 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 23 negativeWeek of 2026-10-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2026-10-01: 8 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

1.0k4342026-09-15 11:00 — 583 players2026-09-16 19:00 — 772 players2026-09-18 03:00 — 548 players2026-09-19 10:00 — 680 players2026-09-20 18:00 — 1,036 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 643 players2026-09-23 09:00 — 473 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 713 players2026-09-26 00:00 — 662 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 646 players2026-09-28 15:00 — 705 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 645 players2026-10-01 06:00 — 469 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 687 players2026-10-03 21:00 — 821 players2026-10-05 05:00 — 538 players2026-10-06 13:00 — 636 players2026-10-07 20:00 — 696 players2026-10-09 04:00 — 577 players2026-10-10 11:00 — 699 players2026-10-11 19:00 — 950 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 600 players2026-10-14 10:00 — 434 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
40k784Dec 2013Aug 2026Dec 2013 — avg 39,648 · peak 88,355Apr 2014 — avg 3,174 · peak 5,544Aug 2014 — avg 1,918 · peak 2,949Dec 2014 — avg 2,989 · peak 7,747Apr 2015 — avg 2,859 · peak 6,049Aug 2015 — avg 2,625 · peak 9,362Dec 2015 — avg 3,684 · peak 6,889Apr 2016 — avg 1,764 · peak 3,206Aug 2016 — avg 14,848 · peak 36,367Dec 2016 — avg 4,228 · peak 9,678Apr 2017 — avg 2,950 · peak 5,622Aug 2017 — avg 3,813 · peak 5,927Dec 2017 — avg 3,685 · peak 7,527Apr 2018 — avg 2,982 · peak 5,180Aug 2018 — avg 2,644 · peak 4,241Dec 2018 — avg 2,470 · peak 4,568Apr 2019 — avg 2,073 · peak 3,775Aug 2019 — avg 2,854 · peak 4,472Dec 2019 — avg 2,553 · peak 4,636Apr 2020 — avg 3,030 · peak 4,368Aug 2020 — avg 1,971 · peak 2,710Dec 2020 — avg 2,385 · peak 4,001Apr 2021 — avg 1,894 · peak 3,040Aug 2021 — avg 2,080 · peak 3,053Dec 2021 — avg 1,830 · peak 2,837Apr 2022 — avg 1,922 · peak 3,045Aug 2022 — avg 2,382 · peak 4,792Dec 2022 — avg 1,595 · peak 2,437Apr 2023 — avg 1,824 · peak 3,146Aug 2023 — avg 1,386 · peak 2,071Dec 2023 — avg 1,363 · peak 2,221Apr 2024 — avg 1,154 · peak 1,949Aug 2024 — avg 1,147 · peak 1,803Dec 2024 — avg 1,198 · peak 1,742Apr 2025 — avg 1,087 · peak 1,756Aug 2025 — avg 1,028 · peak 1,516Dec 2025 — avg 827 · peak 1,361Apr 2026 — avg 793 · peak 1,292Aug 2026 — avg 799 · peak 1,237
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
992026-09-232026-10-142026-09-23: 3 new positive2026-09-25: 1 new positive2026-09-25: 2 new negative2026-09-28: 3 new positive2026-09-28: 1 new negative2026-09-30: 1 new negative2026-10-04: 9 new positive2026-10-05: 2 new positive2026-10-05: 1 new negative2026-10-06: 1 new negative2026-10-08: 1 new positive2026-10-08: 2 new negative2026-10-13: 2 new positive2026-10-13: 1 new negative2026-10-14: 2 new negative
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$44.99$3.742015-01-012026-10-152015-01-01 — best price $14.992015-06-14 — best price $13.492016-01-28 — best price $10.092016-08-03 — best price $14.992017-03-03 — best price $14.992017-09-07 — best price $9.892018-07-02 — best price $10.042018-10-18 — best price $14.052018-12-13 — best price $9.992019-05-10 — best price $11.992019-11-10 — best price $11.242020-01-03 — best price $12.592020-02-07 — best price $13.782020-06-04 — best price $7.492021-01-05 — best price $14.992021-09-11 — best price $19.992022-02-21 — best price $14.992022-08-01 — best price $3.742022-12-01 — best price $14.992023-03-23 — best price $14.992023-07-25 — best price $7.992023-12-21 — best price $5.992024-04-25 — best price $5.992024-07-22 — best price $4.492024-11-21 — best price $5.992025-02-05 — best price $14.992025-06-26 — best price $7.492025-09-13 — best price $19.992025-12-18 — best price $4.492026-03-26 — best price $7.492026-07-31 — best price $14.992026-09-06 — best price $7.492026-09-21 — best price $14.992026-10-06 — best price $5.992026-10-15 — best price $14.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

199602026-06-04 — 121 pageviews2026-06-08 — 98 pageviews2026-06-12 — 60 pageviews2026-06-16 — 90 pageviews2026-06-20 — 77 pageviews2026-06-24 — 75 pageviews2026-06-28 — 105 pageviews2026-07-02 — 80 pageviews2026-07-06 — 95 pageviews2026-07-10 — 73 pageviews2026-07-14 — 87 pageviews2026-07-18 — 148 pageviews2026-07-22 — 199 pageviews2026-07-26 — 130 pageviews2026-07-30 — 107 pageviews2026-08-03 — 100 pageviews2026-08-07 — 96 pageviews2026-08-11 — 109 pageviews2026-08-15 — 102 pageviews2026-08-19 — 82 pageviews2026-08-23 — 88 pageviews2026-08-27 — 68 pageviews2026-08-31 — 115 pageviews2026-09-04 — 98 pageviews2026-09-08 — 71 pageviews2026-09-12 — 81 pageviews2026-09-16 — 113 pageviews2026-09-20 — 90 pageviews2026-09-24 — 80 pageviews2026-09-28 — 82 pageviews2026-10-02 — 97 pageviews2026-10-06 — 67 pageviews2026-10-10 — 82 pageviews2026-10-13 — 83 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

10602026-10-01 00:34 — 43 viewers2026-10-01 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-01 18:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-02 03:34 — 24 viewers2026-10-02 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-02 21:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-03 06:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-03 15:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-04 00:34 — 38 viewers2026-10-04 09:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-04 18:34 — 7 viewers2026-10-05 03:34 — 38 viewers2026-10-05 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-05 21:34 — 43 viewers2026-10-06 06:34 — 40 viewers2026-10-06 15:34 — 9 viewers2026-10-07 00:35 — 33 viewers2026-10-07 09:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-07 18:34 — 6 viewers2026-10-08 03:34 — 3 viewers2026-10-08 12:34 — 1 viewers2026-10-08 21:34 — 23 viewers2026-10-09 06:34 — 64 viewers2026-10-09 15:34 — 2 viewers2026-10-10 00:34 — 27 viewers2026-10-10 09:34 — 18 viewers2026-10-10 18:35 — 0 viewers2026-10-11 03:34 — 58 viewers2026-10-11 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-11 21:34 — 52 viewers2026-10-12 06:34 — 41 viewers2026-10-12 15:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-13 00:34 — 65 viewers2026-10-13 09:34 — 4 viewers2026-10-13 18:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 03:34 — 42 viewers2026-10-14 12:34 — 0 viewers2026-10-14 21:34 — 32 viewers2026-10-14 23:34 — 30 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Completion

51
achievements tracked
82.1%
earned "Adventurer Eventuality "
15%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPCo-opOnline Co-opCross-Platform MultiplayerSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam Workshop1 DLC

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2013-12-05 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)104,7632%51
Windows (Xbox)7,98852%51
Xbox One (Xbox)4,5662%51

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

2DIndieSpaceActionSandboxCraftingRelaxingSurvivalAdventureOpen World

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

No Man's SkyLife is Feudal: Your OwnMiscreatedVaganteRising WorldChildren of MortaGRAVEmpyrion - Galactic Survival

Similarity via IGDB.

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