Update:
Despite not wanting to spend another eight years on a game development, Todd Howard did reveal that they already have plans for a storyline expansion post-launch for Starfield.
Original Story…
Starfield is one ambitious game that has been in development for a very long time. However, we’re finally nearing the release. With the game nearly spending a decade in development, the team behind the project is likely more than ready to release it into the wild. But if you expect Todd Howard to go into another project and take another eight years to deliver, then rest assured, that’s not the plan. Todd Howard recently spoke with IGN on the upcoming Starfield project and during which the topic of time spent on development came up.
With Starfield being an ambitious game, it would likely take some time to develop. However, it might have surprised Todd Howard, the game director behind Starfield, just how much time he would be spending on the game development. IGN noted that this release would be just shy of eight years since the last project shipped for Todd Howard as director. The previous release would be Fallout 4. So it was a wonder how much Starfield might have changed since the project first came to fruition.
According to Todd Howard, the game sticks to their original vision. However, about midway into the game development project, Todd realized why nobody tried to make this game. The game director noted that when you make something ambitious, you can find the path to get windy. It’s a big game, and the amount of content they wanted to bring out continued to grow.
When you do these things, and you take some risks, and you’re really ambitious, that can be a very windy path sometimes is how I’d say it. But it is true to the vision we had for our type of role-playing game set in space and where your mind kind of goes. And we want to, as much as possible, say yes to the player. Can I do this? Can I do this? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And the space is big. So the amount of content that we ended up making to have that really feel authentic to that, that that did grow and grow from where we originally started.
Todd Howard – IGN
Of course, when asked if Todd would be okay taking another eight years in the future for a game project, he admits that’s not his plan. But on the same note, Todd says that you never plan for something like that, but sometimes that is how it ends up. Although, as you get older, you have to look at how many games are ahead of you than behind.
Starfield is slated to release this September 6, 2023. When the game does release, you’ll find it available for PC and Xbox Series X/S. Meanwhile, we know that the next game under Todd Howard at Bethesda will be a new installment of The Elder Scrolls franchise. That alone should be quite an obstacle to deal with as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim launched over a decade ago yet still continues to be a popular RPG to play to this very day. As a result, the developers likely strived to ensure Starfield is a popular RPG at launch and a game that can be enjoyed for years to come.
