Starfield takes place in vast space, with many planets, including Earth. And you might want to visit the planet at the first opportunity. It is, after all, the planet we've lived on. Unfortunately, when you get to Earth, you will notice that it looks different. For miles and miles you will find sand and desert dunes with no sign of life. So, what happened to Earth in the Starfield universe? In this article we will try to unravel the mystery.

Starfield takes place twenty years after the first colony war in the game, that is around 2310. By this time, humanity has left the big blue planet and settled in different star systems as two official factions – The FreeStar Collective and The United Colonies.

Of course, our beloved planet – Earth – is no longer the same old blue planet. Instead, the planet has very little meaning to the current government and settlements and becomes a ball of brown dust. During the mission "The Old Neighborhood", Sarah Morgan mentions that the absence of life on Earth is due to its atmosphere collapsing.

If you join the UC Vanguard at MAST, you can get a proper rundown of what happened to Earth and why it is barren in the Starfield. In 2150, Earth's government realized that the planet's magnetosphere would collapse within fifty years. This means that by the year 2200 the earth will become habitable, leading to the downfall of civilization.