Starfield is generating so much excitement that Bethesda has been forced to make an official statement about the future of the space RPG. What can we learn from this?
Since its release last year, Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield has been subjected to a wave of harsh criticism from gamers. The game, which had been awaited for years and preceded by a lot of hype, unfortunately disappointed many fans. And since the new controversy, the studio has decided to respond.
Starsfield is lynched
Despite the time that has passed since its launch, the situation for Starfield has not improved. Players are frustrated by the lack of a release date for the game’s first major expansion, Shattered Space. This lack of communication from Bethesda contributed to the decline in player interest, particularly visible in the significant drop in the game’s presence on streaming and content creation platforms.
In addition, Starfield was recently the victim of what is known as review bombing on Steam, a practice in which a game is flooded with negative reviews in response to controversial developer decisions. In Starfield’s case, this reaction was sparked by the introduction of official modding tools and the Creation Club, a paid mod platform already used for Fallout 4 and Skyrim. The appearance of certain mods behind a paywall has mostly angered players who consider this approach to be an abuse. In short, paid quests made players scream.
General discomfort
Amid growing controversy, Todd Howard, the creative director of Bethesda Game Studios, spoke out and responded to the criticism. In a recent interview with YouTuber simon_simonHoward said Bethesda is “listening to feedback” from players and plans to review how content is distributed in the future. He explained: “We need to evaluate pricing, what we offer for free, how we communicate, what is included, and really listen to the community.”