『Starfieldis currently in development and is already “the least buggy game in Bethesda Game Studios history.” In an interview program of overseas media, Mr. Matt Booty, representative of Xbox Game Studios, and others are stamping the quality of “Starfield”.
“Starfield” is a completely new RPG from Bethesda Game Studios, known for the “The Elder Scrolls” and “Fallout” series, for the first time in 25 years. Set in the world of 2330, where mankind has advanced outside the solar system, players will adventure the vast universe as a member of the space explorer group Constellation seeking rare artifacts. The other day, on June 12th, the information program “Starfield Direct” revealed a lot of detailed information about the gameplay of this work (related article).
This time, Phil Spencer and Matt Booty appeared on the June 12th broadcast of the YouTube live program “Giant Bomb at Nite” on the gaming website Giant Bomb, and there was an act that mentioned “Starfield”. Spencer is the CEO of Microsoft’s gaming division and the person who leads the Xbox business. On the other hand, Mr. Booty is the representative of Xbox Game Studios at Microsoft. In this program, there was a scene where these two people talked about the content that gave the quality of “Starfield” a “certification” (both appeared from around 1 hour 43 minutes on the program).
Reported to be the least buggy in Bethesda history
In the program, Mr. Spencer mentioned the development status of “Starfield” as of March 2021, when Microsoft completed the acquisition of ZeniMax Media (hereinafter ZeniMax). ZeniMax has multiple studios such as Bethesda Softworks under its umbrella, and at that time they were in the form of Xbox Game Studios. At that time, the release date of this work was scheduled to be significantly earlier than the release date originally set by Microsoft. In response, Microsoft has held discussions with Todd Howard, the director and executive producer of this work, and the development team. He told the development team that he wanted them to spend more time on development.
And Mr. Booty also mentioned the state of this work at the moment. Even if it is released at this time, it is reported that “It is the state with the fewest bugs among Bethesda Game Studios so far.” Series works such as “The Elder Scrolls” and “Fallout” produced by Bethesda Game Studios have been highly evaluated for their volume as open-world games, but the number of bugs at the time of release has often been a problem. “Starfield” may be able to dispel the image of bugs in such studio works.
According to both of them, the company’s QA (Quality Assurance) team is “everyone” playing the game and investigating bugs and quality. It seems that it was the version released in the video on June 12th that was polished up like that. Certainly, at least in the video, it can be confirmed that the gameplay including various elements is working stably.
‘Starfield’ and ‘Redfall’ have been delayed
In May 2022, it was announced that the release was postponed from November 11, 2022, which was originally scheduled to be released, to the first half of 2023. At the same time, the release of “Redfall” by Arkane Studios under ZeniMax has also been postponed. And in March 2023, it was announced that “Starfield” will be released on September 6th of this year (related article 1, related article 2). It is a form that has undergone two changes in the scheduled release date so far.
At the time of the release postponement announcement, Mr. Spencer conveyed the intention of the postponement in an interview with the overseas media The Verge. According to him, new IPs like Starfield require development teams to spend a lot of time and a lot of money. Giving the development team time to develop the game in its ideal form was the right decision, he said.
Spencer also mentions that Starfield, along with Redfall, will be the first major games released by ZeniMax studios after being acquired by Microsoft. He also explained that he wanted each development team to feel the presence of support provided by Microsoft and the benefits of being a member of a large organization. Ultimately, he said he believed the delay would be the right decision, as he believes it would improve the quality of the game and give users a more enjoyable experience.
On the other hand, regarding “Redfall”, which was released on May 2nd after being postponed, he pointed out the existence of bugs and the quality of the game as issues. At the time of writing this article, Steam user reviews have a “somewhat unpopular” status with a favorable rate of 31% out of 1724 reviews. In addition, there are complaints about the lack of optimization of the PC version and the fact that the performance mode that supports the frame rate of 60fps, which was announced to be implemented in the Xbox version, has not been implemented.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games about what happened to Redfall after its release, Spencer explained that he was responsible for releasing a game that needed improvement. While he acknowledged that Arkane Studios hadn’t achieved the quality they were aiming for at the time of its release, he also expressed his support for the studio’s ambitious goals and development stance. He also clarified that he is working on implementing a performance mode for the Xbox version and that he will continue to improve the game as a future response.
Following “Redfall”, which was released with many problems, this work “Starfield” from Bethesda Softworks. Like “Redfall”, this work has undergone a postponement of release, and features a new IP and a large scale work set in space.
Against this background, some users may be concerned about the quality of this work at the time of its release. Mr. Spencer and Mr. Booty’s emphasis on the lack of bugs in this game seems to be intended to wipe away user concerns. In any case, this work is scheduled to be released on September 6th, and it will be brushed up for the release in the future.
“Starfield” is a PC (Steam/Microsoft Store）/Xbox Series X|SScheduled to be released on September 6th. Also available for Xbox/PC Game Pass. Also, if you pre-order the Premium Edition or higher version, you can get early access for up to 5 days. An “Old Mars Skin Pack” containing in-game items is also available as a pre-order bonus.
