Starfield New Zealand trick explained

The New Zealand trick allows players to play games when they launch in New Zealand, but it doesn't work for every game

Starfield is launching this week into early access, but fans are wondering if you'll be able to use the New Zealand trick to play the game even earlier than intended.

Starfield is the biggest Xbox Series X|S game launch since... well ever, and it's no surprise that fans are extremely keen to get their hands on Bethesda's latest adventure ahead of the early access launch on Friday, September 1 using the New Zealand Trick. So what is the New Zealand Trick?

Some game releases launch at 12am in every single region on launch day, so players had figured out you change your Xbox to believe you reside in New Zealand that you'll be able to play the game as soon as it launches in New Zealand (who are the furthest ahead in terms of time zone, and thus reach 12am first).

But the main questions on everyone's mind are, what time will Starfield release to players, and can you use the New Zealand trick with Starfield? Obviously you'll need to have the Premium edition of Starfield (which can be found in our Starfield pre-order guide ) to access the game on Friday, September 1, otherwise you'll need to wait until the games full launch on Wednesday, September 6.

Bethesda posted a handy Starfield release map on Twitter which confirmed what time the game will launch in each region. Starfield has a simultaneous global launch on release at 12am UTC on September 6, 2023. We've put times below for both Starfield early access, and day one launch below for UK, US, and Australia.

Starfield early access release time

Global launch Starfield release time

Sadly, due to the simultaneous launch of Starfield worldwide, you wont be able to use the New Zealand trick for Starfield. This applies for both the early access launch of the game on Friday, September 1 and the full launch on Wednesday, September 6. Sadly the only way you'll be able to play Starfield early is at the launch of the early access version of the game.

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