Since Starfield: Shattered Space released last September, Bethesda has not given much indication that they are working on anything new for the game. Some fans will call it disappointing or divisive, but as Bethesda has put it, Starfield now has its own dedicated fanbase, and it’s still one that’s big enough to make other game studios jealous. Even knowing that the studio has other projects in development, the long silence has been quite curious.
Bethesda finally let fans know that they haven’t forgotten them quite yet.
The official Starfield Twitter account shared this update:
“We know you’re eager for an update, and we truly appreciate your passion for Starfield. The team has been hard at work, and while we’re not ready to share specific details just yet, we have a lot of exciting things planned for the game this year that we can’t wait to talk about when the time is right.
We’re always listening and taking your feedback to heart. Thanks for being part of this journey with us.”
As is the case with any Bethesda game, the first thing that will likely come to mind for players is addressing the many bugs and issues that come up. But beyond that, Todd Howard may still be chasing something in this, two years after the original release of a game he dreamed of making for much longer than that.
Of course, many critics will decry that the big issues with Starfield are fundamental in their game design. Given that they don’t have a consensus on those criticisms, for example whether it is too much like classic Bethesda, or too different from classic Bethesda, it can be hard to parse exactly what the issue is.
Maybe people who actually make video games, who know firsthand the sleight-of-hand developers use to give their audience that dopamine dose in gameplay, has a better understanding of the game’s strengths and weaknesses than Bethesda’s most loyal fans do. We won’t venture to speculate here any further, because as anyone who works in a creative business knows, you literally cannot predict what your audience will like next.
But if Fallout 76 is any indication, it wouldn’t be too bad if Bethesda just spent the next few months focusing on improving performance and optimization. For all the talk of Starfield coming to more platforms, will Bethesda gamers really buy it on PlayStation 5 or Switch 2 if it was still broken there? In any case, No Man’s Sky, Cyberpunk 2077, and Fallout 76 itself have proven that games can get a second chance, if the developers play their cards right.
