Starfield's planets were originally supposed to be much more punishing for players, that is until Bethesda "nerfed the hell out of it," reveals Todd Howard.
06.09.2023 - 12:59 / techradar.com / Todd Howard / Jake Tucker / Howard / Howard Says
The director of Starfield, Todd Howard, has defended the game’s Xbox Series X|S console exclusivity, and has stated that exclusive games are always “a better product”.
In an interview with the BBC, Howard said that although it’s important for “people to be able to access” games, choosing to make them exclusive allows developers to focus on the platform that they know gamers will be using. He also suggested that there can be a “real benefit” to certain games being associated with specific brands, making reference to The Legend of Zelda’s intrinsic ties with Nintendo and the Nintendo Switch.
“When you're making something exclusive then the more you can focus,” Howard said. «You know this is the hardware or the thing people are playing on, so the ability to focus on that always yields a better product. You do want people to be able to access it of course. But being with Xbox means there is an ease of access for us and I'm told we're expecting more people playing this launch than anything we've ever done before and that's despite the success of our previous games.
»I do also think people attach brands to certain games,” he continued. “When you think of Zelda you think of the Switch and I think there are times when that can be a real benefit."
Today (Wednesday, September 6), Starfield left its early access period and is now available for all to play on Series X|S and PC — it’s playable via Xbox Game Pass, too.
In his review, TechRadar Gaming’s editor-in-chief, Jake Tucker, gave Starfield a four out of five and praised the sheer quantity of things to explore, as well as the game's starship combat and deep skill system. However, he expressed concerns over Starfield's soul, which he described as “largely absent”.
Although Starfield is probably going to keep everyone busy for some time, if you’re looking for something new to play, be sure to check out our lists of the best PC games and best Xbox Series X games.
Starfield's planets were originally supposed to be much more punishing for players, that is until Bethesda "nerfed the hell out of it," reveals Todd Howard.
For reasons I won't get into here because it may constitute a little bit of a spoiler, the planet Earth in Starfield is a bit of a wasteland. But what if it was The Wasteland—that is, the post-nuclear hellscape of Bethesda's other big sci-fi-ish game series, Fallout? In an interview with The Washington Post, creative director Todd Howard said developers actually gave thought to the idea.
You may have heard about a little space game called Starfield, the gravitational pull from which risks swallowing all games discourse for months and possibly years to come. Perhaps that's no surprise for a game that's been in development and hyped for as long as any title that I can remember (well, ones that have shipped anyway) but it's easy to forget now the thing's in our hands that it was subject to multiple delays along the way.
Starfield director Todd Howard has spoken about plans for the game that didn’t make the final cut, including the idea for a very neat Fallout reference.
Starfield game director Todd Howard has confirmed that the game's official mod tools will be released next year.
In an interview with Famitsu, Starfield lead and Bethesda frontman Todd Howard stated that the game's mod support «will be available next year» (obtained via machine translation), which likely refers to Starfield's equivalent to the Creation Kit modding tools for Skyrim and Fallout 4.
While it’s certainly true that Starfield already has more mods than most games ever receive during their entire lifetime, including the hotly anticipated Script Extender thingamajig, it doesn’t take an eagle’s eye to notice that the vast majority of them are still relatively limited in scope. That’s for good reason, too, as Starfield is currently missing a crucial feature that all Bethesda Game Studios RPGS eventually receive: Creation Kit support. Until Creation Kit 2 – built specifically for Starfield‘s Creation Engine 2 – comes out, modders won’t be able to easily add new weapons, customizations, and other assorted goodies into the game, but the good news is that it’s bound to happen relatively soon!
Starfield is officially out, and modders have been working hard creating helpful add-ons, from useful, quality-of-life mods such as revamping the inventory UI to unofficially adding support for DLSS. Others have added more cosmetic things like reskin in-game clothes. And then there are some people out there who keep modding Bethesda's Todd Howard into the game.
Bethesda’s Todd Howard has responded to a question asking why Starfield isn’t optimized for PC, clarifying that it is – it’s just a “next-gen PC game” you may need to upgrade your PC for.
Bethesda exec Todd Howard has claimed that Fallout 76’s troubled launch ultimately helped the studio’s developers become better judges of when their games are actually ready to be released.
Bethesda’s Todd Howard has discussed the benefits of Starfield being an Xbox console exclusive.
«When you're making something exclusive then the more you can focus.»