Personally I think that comparing starfield is not a good example since it comes from a company with a history of many years, I am not saying that they do not work on the game but that other games with smaller teams (also in early access) polish these factors more , for me I hope (and hoped)...
Excuse me for telling you, but that thing about there being no game like 7 days to die... is not true.
The players hope that even after 9 years of experience (it is no longer in early access) and also that with an RTX 3060 - 3080 it has hordes of FPS drops, it leaves a lot to be said for...
And we still don't have a clear answer after 7 months, meanwhile after a game that is 9 years old it still has optimization problems.
I think it's a game with incredible mechanics but if the developers don't put their batteries into the survival market - other companies are going to eat them...
There is no release date yet?
We have been waiting 7 months since the last version update (20.6) I also hope that optimization problems are solved, with an RTX 3080 and another 3060 I have lag in the hordes due to FPS drops in medium graphics, when in other games with higher requirements I do...