Starfield Is Broken On Intel Arc GPUs, But Intel Is Working On A Fix

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The game crashes and sometimes fails to launch.

Starfield screenshots
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Intel has acknowledged that its Arc Alchemist GPUs, some of the best graphics cards, are having severe issues running Bethesda's new space RPG Starfield — precisely trouble launching the game. According to Intel, a driver update will be ready for the game's release next week on September 5 to fix these issues. Still, sadly, this means there won't be any immediate support during the remainder of Starfield's early access period.

Problems running Starfield on Arc graphics cards are as bad as it gets. One problem is that Intel has still not released a game-ready driver update supporting Starfield — unlike Nvidia and AMD. Even worse, according to several responses on Intel's post, the game won't even start on current Arc drivers, making the game completely unplayable on Intel's discrete GPUs.

The most surprising aspect of this situation is that Intel completely neglected to release a game-ready driver in time for Starfield, arguably one of the most hyped-up games of 2023 and one of the biggest releases of 2023. We suspect that Intel was working on a driver for Starfield, but it probably broke right before the game's release due to game updates.

This wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. Intel had encountered this problem a few times with previous game releases where its game-ready drivers broke at the very last minute when the game released a launch-day patch to iron out bugs and optimize the game. This would make sense in Starfield's case because a massive 15GB patch went live a few days ago, right before the game's release, which could have broken Intel's driver update it was potentially working on.

Intel has made vast strides in improving its driver support and optimizations over the past year. However, Intel's driver maturity still has a ways to go before it matches Nvidia or AMD's counterparts. Fortunately, Intel will have a driver ready for Starfield's full release on September 5.

Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Freelance News Writer

Aaron Klotz is a freelance writer for Tom’s Hardware US, covering news topics related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

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8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • BX4096
    From what I hear, the game has serious issues that go way beyond Intel compatibility. I've never been a real fan of Bethesda's games - still consider Fallout 3 to be a true abomination and wasted opportunity compared to its magnificent prequels, for example - but some of the stuff raised by the reviews makes me glad I didn't jump the hype train and consider buying. As much as I love sci-fi, I'm going to give this one a pass for a year - or three - before I get my hands on it. An expansion or two, some DLC, and a hell of a lot of quality of life mods, and I may actually enjoy it by then.
    Reply
  • Dr3ams
    Elaborate
    BX4096 said:
    From what I hear, the game has serious issues that go way beyond Intel compatibility. I've never been a real fan of Bethesda's games - still consider Fallout 3 to be a true abomination and wasted opportunity compared to its magnificent prequels, for example - but some of the stuff raised by the reviews makes me glad I didn't jump the hype train and consider buying. As much as I love sci-fi, I'm going to give this one a pass for a year - or three - before I get my hands on it. An expansion or two, some DLC, and a hell of a lot of quality of life mods, and I may actually enjoy it by then.
    Please elaborate. What serious issues are you talking about?

    m6NvlnQC8Ow
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    The game have some issues on day one... with the 6700xt fullhd ultra. some times got really bad fps. dips bellow the 30fps...

    but is a enjoyable game... not perfect.
    Reply
  • BX4096
    Dr3ams said:
    Please elaborate. What serious issues are you talking about?
    I meant mostly design related, not technical ones. The reviews I've seen make me want to stay away from the game until the kinks are worked out and more depth is added. The last paragraph of this conclusion probably sums it up most succinctly: Skyrim in space, but with less magic (not that I found vanilla Skyrim that magical to begin with).
    I've spent a lot of time describing aspects of Starfield's vast experience that don't work optimally or fundamentally fail. Although there are many positive aspects to what we are served, it is often in sandbox games like this that many small streams make a big one.

    If I had let go of the frustration of not having vehicles, I would have actually enjoyed the game's planetary exploration. If I experience at least simulated seamlessness out in space, it would change my experience of that part of the game. Had my companions not acted and moved strangely, the performance often lagged, the areas felt like copies of each other, or if the big cities had actually appeared large and exciting, well if only some of these aspects had been fundamentally better, the overall experience would have been very different.

    Starfield is Skyrim in space, but it's a Skyrim with less soul, less seamlessness, and most importantly - less game magic. Perhaps Bethesda will manage to make the Starfield experience better in the future through various updates and expansions. But all in all, it seems like Starfield would have done much better as a universe over 10 planets, rather than what we got spread over 1,000.

    That is not to say it doesn't have its share of technical issues as well. I saw a few articles about stuttering and other performance issues, and even the review I quoted mentions "a bunch of bugs, like characters walking into walls and furniture, running as fast as they can before stopping, moving strangely from A to B, standing halfway through the floor, or suddenly missing their space suit in -140 °", which apparently "not only makes Starfield feel unfinished, but it gives a very goofy feeling that this huge studio hasn't learned anything in the 12 years since Skyrim."
    Reply
  • derekullo
    Todd Howard strikes again!

    YPN0qhSyWy8View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPN0qhSyWy8
    Reply
  • Dr3ams
    BX4096 said:
    I meant mostly design related, not technical ones. The reviews I've seen make me want to stay away from the game until the kinks are worked out and more depth is added. The last paragraph of this conclusion probably sums it up most succinctly: Skyrim in space, but with less magic (not that I found vanilla Skyrim that magical to begin with).


    That is not to say it doesn't have its share of technical issues as well. I saw a few articles about stuttering and other performance issues, and even the review I quoted mentions "a bunch of bugs, like characters walking into walls and furniture, running as fast as they can before stopping, moving strangely from A to B, standing halfway through the floor, or suddenly missing their space suit in -140 °", which apparently "not only makes Starfield feel unfinished, but it gives a very goofy feeling that this huge studio hasn't learned anything in the 12 years since Skyrim."
    Other than some minor clipping, I've had no issues running this game on ultra at 1440p (with FSR2 turned on). My rig is mid-range, not high-end, so I'm not sure what some YouTubers and bloggers are fussing about.
    Reply
  • kerberos_20
    Dr3ams said:
    Other than some minor clipping, I've had no issues running this game on ultra at 1440p (with FSR2 turned on). My rig is mid-range, not high-end, so I'm not sure what some YouTubers and bloggers are fussing about.
    game is CPU capped to something around 100fps with best CPUs, weak CPU have less fps..that could be reason of fussing about
    Reply
  • waltc3
    Intel has always had problems with GPU drivers & games, so this is not surprising. However, Intel is correct in a narrow sense. The game is still two days away from mainstream release. I didn't hear about the 6-day EA for the game until 9/1--Intel likely is the same. Also, since there will be a major patch done on 9/6 for release from Bethesda (?), they may be waiting for that, as well. I passed on the $100 "Premium Edition" (but oddly I fell for it with the Diablo IV EA, which is really getting boring, lately). Like every Bethesda title, the modders will make the game, imo..
    Reply