Bethesda has insisted it’s dedicated to supporting Starfield, and confirmed a minimum of one different story enlargement will launch following this yr’s Shattered Space.
In an interview with YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard mentioned the developer is aiming to launch an annual story enlargement for “hopefully a really very long time.”
Sci-fi RPG Starfield launched in September 2023 as Bethesda’s first model new mental property in years, and its first mainline single-player sport since Microsoft purchased dad or mum firm ZeniMax Media in March 2021. IGN’s Starfield assessment returned a 7/10. We mentioned: “Starfield has a whole lot of forces working towards it, however finally the attract of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable fight make its gravitational pull troublesome to withstand.”
Howard mentioned Starfield has now seen 14 million gamers following its launch on PC, Xbox Series X and S and straight into Xbox subscription service Game Pass, though Bethesda has but to announce a gross sales determine. The sport’s first story enlargement, Shattered Space, launches later in 2024, with its debut trailer revealed throughout Microsoft’s latest Xbox Games Showcase occasion.
During the interview, MrMattyPlays requested Howard whether it is Bethesda’s intention to proceed to launch annual story expansions for Starfield. Howard replied: “More or much less, yeah. How lengthy that continues, hopefully a really very long time, however we’re planning for the one after this, so there might be one other one.”
As for Shattered Space itself, Howard revealed attention-grabbing particulars about its dimension and scope, likening it to the well-received Fallout 4 DLC Far Harbor.
“One of the issues we all the time appreciated about it from the get-go, however I don’t suppose individuals understand, is Shattered Space, the majority of that enlargement pack, when you get to the town and the planet, it takes place there. It permits us to construct a panorama like we might historically do and have the town and the search. And in order that story takes place there.
“Content smart, we’re what we did with Far Harbor on Fallout 4. This is a scope that works for our improvement in doing this annual story enlargement sort of factor. So actually enthusiastic about that, and it lets us do some issues the way in which we might in earlier video games and provides individuals not utterly that have as a result of it is nonetheless Starfield, however this new sort of alien world that you simply’re capable of discover and it takes place there.”
One widespread criticism of Starfield is that exploration is unfold too skinny throughout a thousand planets, a lot of which have been deemed barren because of procedural era. This is in distinction to earlier Bethesda video games within the Elder Scrolls and Fallout collection, that are set in targeted areas crammed with hand-crafted cities and different factors of curiosity.
Howard mentioned Shattered Space, which seems like a extra conventional Bethesda expertise, is just not essentially a response to that criticism, however the studio’s inside response to the sport it had made. “It wasn’t a response,” Howard insisted. “It was our personal response that we had as nicely.”
It’s a busy time for the 450-person Bethesda Game Studios, which at present operates 5 groups: Starfield; Elder Scrolls 6; Fallout 76; cellular; and exterior improvement partnerships. It’s engaged on the aforementioned Elder Scrolls 6, ongoing content material for Fallout 76, varied cellular video games, updates for older video games, and, finally, the following Fallout.
But will Starfield see a sequel? If it does materialize it could be a while earlier than we see something of it, with Elder Scrolls 6 anticipated no sooner than 2028 and one other Fallout sport set to observe.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
