Bethesda development chief Todd Howard has commented on the mixed reception to its expansive space game Starfield, suggesting some of the criticism stemmed from the game being different from the likes of Fallout and Skyrim.
Starfield came out in September 2023 and, boosted by its inclusion in Microsoft’s subscription service Game Pass, enjoyed more players at launch than any previous Bethesda game. It also held up better than most other Bethesda games in terms of performance.
But Starfield had a mixed reception from critics and players. IGN’s Starfield review returned a 7/10, with what we called “disjointed space travel, nonexistent maps, aggravating inventory management, and a slow rollout of essential abilities” holding it back from getting a higher score. Starfield currently has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, with negative reviews pointing out the extensive loading involved with space travel, empty spaces on planets, and a lack of people or enemies to encounter.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Howard addressed the mixed reception to Starfield, or as interviewer Greg Miller put it, the “polarizing” Starfield. Howard began by pointing to Starfield’s stability at launch, which he said the studio was delighted with, as well as the reviews on the higher end of the scale. But throughout his response is the suggestion that Starfield suffered in part because it was unlike Bethesda’s previous games, Fallout and Skyrim, and he insisted: “Each of the franchises should be its own thing.”
“What’s new is it’s a new IP, so you know that we’re going to be doing some things differently than we’ve done before, and obviously we had people who love the game both on the review side and people who liked it less,” Howard said.
“I think the majority of our reviews were in the 90s, which, look, that’s great. I don’t want to ever be in a world where that is not a great place to be in terms of critical reception, particularly in a year where there were so many amazing games out.
“But obviously, look, we see the feedback, we see a lot of players saying, this is what I want out of a Bethesda game, which is to explore a world in a certain way and Starfield didn’t give me that, I prefer the way it’s done in Fallout or Elder Scrolls. And perfectly understandable right, in terms of, hey this is a different experience.”
Howard continued by discussing the “trade-offs” Bethesda was willing to make in order to realize the fantasy of landing on a huge number of planets and exploring each one in-game. Ahead of release, Bethesda touted Starfield’s 1,000 explorable planets, although many players found them to be lacking in content.
“I do think, for us, particularly me going into a science fiction game, I want to be able to land on all the planets, I want the game to say yes to us knowing that that content is going to be different than you’ve seen from us in the past when you’re exploring a landscape,” Howard said. “And that’s some of the trade-offs we’ll make to do what we think makes a science fiction game like this, that’s based in this kind of fiction and reality, to make it what it should be. Each of the franchises should be its own thing.
“Obviously, look, there are areas that… the maps or some other things, gameplay options, that we’re adding, other display modes on console that people have asked for, and we want to do all that stuff, it takes some time but we’re excited to get stuff out there.”
Howard’s comments, already much-discussed online, come as Bethesda is in the process of releasing a significant update for Starfield that makes the Xbox Series X version playable in 60fps, among many other things. It will be interesting to see if the update sparks renewed interest in the game, with the Shattered Space expansion due out in the fall.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
