UPDATE
Bethesda has just announced the patch will be going live tomorrow, January 18.
Update: the issue has been resolved, and the Steam Beta for our next update will be going live tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for the full patch notes when it opens!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We’ve all been eagerly awaiting the release of Starfield's new update this week. This is supposedly the first of a series that will massively improve Bethesda Game Studios’ most successful launch to date.
Bethesda was scheduled to release the update to Steam Beta today, January 17, and release the full patch two weeks later once volunteers can test the updates and spot issues.
However, Bethesda Games Studios posted on its official X account that it is moving the patch release to Steam Beta “later this week,” with the official release date to be confirmed soon.
According to the update, BGS has discovered a bug they want to rectify before they get the update ready for beta testing by actual players on Steam.
At this point, there’s no other recourse for the players but to wait further until BGS posts an announcement confirming the release of the update to Steam Beta. With only two days until the weekend, we could safely assume that the patch drops on Friday at the latest.
The patch would’ve introduced over 100 fixes for Starfield, including more accurate shadows for the discs on the gas giants like Deepala and Saturn. It would also be an additional fix for the 'pet rock' space phenomenon that was supposed to be fixed by an earlier update.
Unfortunately, Bethesda has not indicated if this patch will bring “new ways to travel,” as they promised in the initial announcement regarding the updates just before the holidays started.