Shouldn't need one with a hard copy of Starfield...assuming there isn't a required login to Xbox game services (on PC) or Steam to play of course (in the likelihood of a day one patch or further digital updates). In which case I suspect you'll need a free MS or Steam account to do so. There undoubtably will be further (and clearer) instructions inside the boxed version when it arrives.
Hard copies of PC games these days are usually identical to the downloadable ones, with the same persistent DRM clients (e.g. Steam). You're getting more physical waste with no practical benefits; they're pretty much purely collectors items, unless they come with meaningful paper documentation (and most don't).
So the thing that I want to avoid is having a 'Windows account' - which appears to be enforced in Windows 11. I've read the help pages for countering/ignoring that and was wondering that, with Bethesda and MS being 'friends' that with my smart watch pre-order I might be 'forced' into this whole thing. Like I said, not au faix with Windows...
I'm up to two Windows 11 systems now, neither of which have a Microsoft Account associated with them.
I would also be very surprised if the Steam version of the game needed one.
I belong to that "mind your own business" crowd, but I bit the bullet to play MSFS2020, which requires a Microsoft / XBox account (I think they are one in the same these days) to play. What bothers me about Starfield is that it seems you need to "log in" to play it, despite it being an offline single-player game. That annoys me to no end, because I don't always have good Internet. Rockstar does the same thing with RDR2, and it's a much-hated feature by many.
It will be cracked eventually, and there is nothing illegal in most jurisdictions about cracking a game you have a license to, even if it's against the EULA, which usually have a slew of legally unenforceable prohibitions.
There is no way in hell Starfield is going on any of my non-communal systems (the HTPC can remain the household cesspit that I just erase any time it gets cluttered enough to really annoy me) until it's been dissected by cracking groups and I can run it entirely offline with a tiny Steam emulator.
Difficult to resist the launchers or accounts, you will at some point end up jumping through so many hoops it's getting annoying.
Crossed that point 25 years ago.
It comes down to the flavor of annoyance one finds least bitter. Personally, I usually just do without until DRM is bypassed or patched out, but I have enough systems that if I get something for free, or if someone whose account I have access to will be getting it anyway, I'm willing to tolerate the clients/storefronts on one of them.
Anyone else think about people complaining about a game company on THIS forum? Hilarious is a word that comes to mind, but that's just me I guess.
I'm not giving Bethesda any special treatment. I rip on Frontier and everyone else for all of their very real failings as well.
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