Oh, the difference a year makes. When 2023 was starting, Starfield was easily one of the year’s most anticipated titles. Bethesda had been working on the game for years and promised a new IP and a grand universe to explore and enjoy. It did suffer a delay or two in 2023, but it eventually came out in September. However, once it arrived, the disconnect between critics and gamers regarding their thoughts on it was large. Critics thought it was the “game of the generation,” while gamers seemed to think it was just “a decent enough game that came out in 2023.”
At first, it seemed like there were only a few “Starfield haters” out in the world, especially given the launch numbers of the title. But as time went on, the discourse around it grew, as gamers really started to notice the flaws within the title and all that Bethesda didn’t do to truly make it stand out. That brings us to the Steam Awards, which unveiled its “best of the year” winners, as voted on by fans.
And so imagine some people’s shock when Bethesda’s latest title won “Most Innovative Gameplay.” Exactly, it doesn’t make sense. But that’s the twist. While many people rioted online and via the Steam comments when this was announced, others pointed out that since this was a fan vote, it was incredibly possible that fans gave the game the award as a joke. As in, it had the LEAST innovative gameplay despite Bethesda promising the opposite.
We can back up this notion by looking at the Steam reviews for the game. Ever since the game’s launch on PC, the reception for the Bethesda title has slowly gone down. It’s currently in “mixed” reception, and a score of recent reviews have been incredibly negative to it. And not just in an “I hate this game” kind of way, but really honing in on what made the game so “boring” to them.
So, if enough of those gamers came together to troll the Steam Awards, that would easily explain why it got this award. It also should be noted that at The Game Awards, the title was only nominated for a very small number of categories, and it didn’t win a single one.
It got so bad for Bethesda that they sent some of their customer service people after some of the negative Steam reviews to basically tell people why they were wrong to think that way! Now THAT is innovation.
