In 2018, Starfield was officially announced during Bethesda’s E3 delivery. The game is set to take place in a space-themed (Star Wars-esque?) setting. This game release will mark the first unique intellectual property product developed by Bethesda in over 25 years.
In this piece, you will read:
- Concerns about the release of Starfield
- Lessons from previous Bethesda release issues
- Stafield’s potential for Xbox
Concerns about Starfield
However, many people are worried that the game’s release would be a failure due to a variety of problems. There are good reasons to be wary of Starfield from Bethesda’s history of shaky releases to recent disappointments in the Xbox exclusive lineup.
One of the biggest complaints people have with Bethesda releasing Starfield is the developer’s history of releasing games with major technical problems. Players used to find these issues humorous or cute, but that attitude has changed more recently. Bethesda are guilty of releasing a near unplayable mess of a title in Fallout 76. Also Microsoft in general have lost a lot of good faith recently with the release of Redfall, which by all accounts is another appalling half finished busy mess. Bethesda are now up against it to deliver a stellar Xbox exclusive to help save face.
After the lackluster reaction of Fallout 4 and the numerous re-releases of Skyrim, players are hungry for something new and improved. To engage and please today’s gamers, Starfield will need to provide more than the tried-and-true Bethesda recipe. Having a map cluttered with markers and objectives in an open world is now considered old fashioned. Modern gamers want natural storytelling through gameplay, the sense of stumbling across something new without the game holding your hand. Games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring have set the new industry standards in storytelling through gameplay rather than narrative. If Starfield hasn’t adapted during a very long production cycle, then it’s very possible we’ll receive a game that feels outdated and stale.
Lessons learned from recent failures in Fallout 76 and Redfall
Starfield’s reputation has taken a hit due to the failures of games like Fallout 76 and Redfall. The online multiplayer debut of Bethesda, Fallout 76, was plagued by issues and met with significant criticism. Arkane Studios’ exclusive Redfall was met with poor reviews upon its release. Now that Xbox has so few notable exclusives, the pressure is on Starfield to succeed even more so than it was before.
Starfield faces pressure from high expectations
Starfield has had to live up to some pretty lofty standards. Playstation have been knocking it out of the park recently with Sony exclusives and as far as the console wars goes, Xbox is not keeping pace. Franchises like God of War, Horizon, and The Last of Us have firmly pushed Playstation’s brand into the stratosphere in recent years and Xbox fans have long been yearning for a big comeback. It now seems to rest on Bethesda’s shoulders to attempt to do something different by making a revolutionary role-playing game (RPG) in space.
However, there is a danger in doing something so drastically different from their prior efforts. It may be too much to ask that they completely reinvent the genre without damaging the goodwill fans have built up in games like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. That said, taking on board new innovations like Chat GPT to assist with NPC dialogue would be a smart move if the game is as sprawling an epic adventure as expected. Imagine asking NPCs a variety of questions and receiving intelligent immersive responses all the time! If Bethesda are willing to adopt these kinds of smart choices for Starfield, then perhaps we’ll get a truly special and realistic space simulator to enjoy. It’s more likely we’ll end up with repetitive dialogue and limited interaction which will be very disappointing considering the alternative.
A game-changing success for Xbox?
Starfield is the Xbox brand’s flagship game, and as such it must rescue Microsoft’s gaming division from a difficult moment. Starfield’s success is especially important given the obstacles and unknowns faced by other highly anticipated exclusives. Microsoft must ensure that the game does not suffer from the same technical issues that have afflicted prior Bethesda releases in order to change the industry’s opinion of Xbox.
Will Starfield be worth the purchase?
While anticipation for Starfield is high, a measured degree of skepticism is warranted. Due to Bethesda’s track record of flawed releases, the recent underwhelming lineup of Xbox exclusives – Halo Infinite massively missed the mark and Redfall launched in a near unplayable state – and the pressure of player expectations, Starfield’s commercial success is far from assured. Starfield faces a number of obstacles. Having said this, the game has the potential to become a milestone product in the genre of open-world RPGs if the developers pay close attention to detail and offer a polished and original experience.
Gamers from the Outsider Gaming audience and beyond will find out if this game is really worth the hype as Starfield is scheduled to be released on September 6, 2023 for Windows and Xbox Series X|S. When summer 2023 comes to a close, gamers will begin to understand if Starfield can pull off the big save and rescue Xbox from a disastrous year. Until then, the Outsider Gaming audience should reach out to our editorial team with any news, thoughts, or insider information about this game or other related interests! Don’t forget to continue reading.