Bethesda’s Todd Howard Explains The Mixed Reception To Starfield

In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Bethesda’s Todd Howard explained why Starfield had received a mixed reception despite being one of Bethesda’s biggest game releases. Part of the reason is that Starfield is a lot different than Bethesda’s other IPs, such as Fallout or Skyrim. Todd emphasized that each franchise should be its own thing.

For reference, skip to 42:03 in the following video.

Todd Howard also talked about how some people prefer Fallout and Skyrim’s style of exploration over Starfield and that it was “perfectly understandable.” Starfield offers a vastly different experience from Bethesda’s previous titles and allows the player to explore entire planets, craft spaceships, and a lot more.

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.”

Starfield Is Set To Recieve Its Largest Update Yet Later This Month

Bethesda has announced that it’ll be rolling out the biggest Starfield update later this month. The update is set to bring a significant amount of content as well as optimizations. And that’s not all, as Starfield will also be getting a DLC titled Shattered Space later this year. Bethesda has a lot planned for the Space RPG, and it seems there will be further improvements in the future.

Starfield launched on Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC on September 6, 2023. eXputer rated the title 3.5/5 in its review, praising the spacecraft customization and the expansive sci-fi universe.