Starfieldis being viewed by many as Bethesda’s chance at redemption. For a long while, Bethesda was known as a premiere RPG maker, putting out one hit after another and achieving unprecedented success withThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimin 2011. Unfortunately, Bethesda’s reputation of putting out consistently high-quality game releases took a major blow with 2018’sFallout 76, an online multiplayer game that was panned by fans and critics alike.
Starfieldis Bethesda’s first major new release since the missteps it made withFallout 76, and many are interested to see if it will repair the company’s reputation. So far, fans seem cautiously optimistic aboutStarfieldbased on what they’ve seen of the game. Some are excited aboutStarfield’s incredibly ambitious scope, while others are worried that Bethesda may have bitten off more than it can chew.
RELATED:Fallout 76 Details Pitt Expansion
Time will tell howStarfieldfares, but in the meantime, a report has indicated that the open world sci-fi RPG may be partly to blame forFallout 76’s problems. Kotaku published a report earlier this month detailing the troubled development behindFallout 76claims thatTodd Howardbasically neglected work onFallout 76to focus his attention onStarfield. Citing one of its sources, Kotaku’s report states that “Howard was supposed to be in the charge of the game,” yet was mostly concerned withStarfield. Conversely, the Kotaku report says another source described Howard as a “decent executive producer.”
It should be noted that Todd Howard wasnot the director ofFallout 76, so even if he was supposed to be “in charge” of the game, it would make sense that his efforts would be mostly focused onStarfield. While Howard is the game director ofStarfield, he served in an executive producer role forFallout 76. Howard has served as game director for Bethesda’s biggest projects, includingFallout 3,Skyrim, andFallout 4, soFallout 76is the outlier.
The report mentions a decision that Todd Howard allegedly made aboutFallout 76that proved to be one of the biggest sticking points for the game’s critics when it launched in 2018. While they have since been added to the game,Fallout 76launched without NPCs. This reportedly went against the wishes of many of the game’s developers, but was something that the higher-ups wanted, with Howard specifically mentioned in the report.
Regardless,Fallout 76updateshave ensured that the game is in a much better place now than when it first launched, and many Bethesda fans are excited to see whatStarfieldhas in store. It will be interesting to see if it lives up to the hype come launch in 2023.
Fallout 76is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
