Tom Henderson has shared a blockbuster rumor about upcoming sci-fi open world RPG Starfield.
Responding to a different claim about codes, Tom declared on Twitter that the review codes will be going out to reviewers next week.
The rumor Tom Henderson was responding to claimed that the codes would be going out on September 1, 2023. It turns out, there is a reasonable explanation for that rumor. As SwanyPlaysGames said in a reply to Tom’s tweet, creators (AKA streamers and influencers) are getting a second wave of review/play codes on September 1. These codes are being released via Keymailer, a platform that ensures that these keys are being sent to legitimate influencers and not impersonators.
So what’s the big deal? Anyone who saw the delayed rollout for Baldur’s Gate 3’s metascores will immediately understand. Games as big as Baldur’s Gate 3 or Starfield need to be completed to be properly reviewed.
The big worry is that a game company may delay sharing review codes to reviewers, or even withhold giving them any keys at all, with the intention of misleading gamers into buying a game early. It would be fair to say that gamers should be skeptical that Microsoft might do exactly this, when they pushed out Redfall out the door, when it was quite clear that the game was nowhere near ready, and clearly was not going to meet consumer expectations.
In the case of Baldur’s Gate 3, this is not an issue because the game was on Early Access for three years, and was already priced at full retail price from that time. That Early Access period was important, because it allowed the fans and players to see how the game develop through that three year period. That also meant they saw how Baldur’s Gate 3 got bigger and bigger, to the point that now it doesn’t seem likely that it will get any expansion or DLC of any sort.
Starfield reviewers will have a little over two weeks to play through the game, and hopefully get to something comparable to an end state, or at least get to the ending on what seems to be a distinct story campaign found in this open world game. Starfield influencers only getting a few days in advance is probably for the best as well. While these streamers will be allowed to share the game early, they will essentially leak the game in those first few days.
Starfield will be released on September 6, 2023, on the Xbox Series X|S and Windows via Steam. It will also be Day One Game Pass.
