After building their reputation on 100 plus hour RPGs like Fallout and Elder Scrolls, Bethesda Game Studios is ascending to outer space for their next new franchise. Using their new game, Starfield, Bethesda plans to tackle sci-fi genre the same treatment they gave to fantasy and post-apocalyptic video games.
Starfield debuted at E3 2018 with a short teaser featuring a logo and some music. There hasn't been an official unveiling of the game since then. However, we've received numerous tidbits, offhanded remarks from Todd Howard, and the like. Together, it's enough to begin forming a silhouette of how this game might look.
Here's everything we know about Starfield.
When is the Starfield release date?
Starfield has yet to receive a proper release date or window. There's reason to believe that Starfield will launch in 2022. Insider Skullzi has also backed this up. “I'd consider Starfield 2022 basically confirmed from what I have been hearing, seems to be Q1 most likely March,” he tweeted on May 16, 2021. “Lots of releases this fall anyway, and Starfield will have more in-game systems than any other BGS game so they have a lot of polishing and testing to do. We'll see.”
Bethesda’s Todd Howard also noted in an E3 2018 interview that Starfield won't run on PS4 and Xbox One. Starfield would be the perfect title to bookend that transitionary period with a 2022 release date. It is likely that we see the game this year though, as a 2021 copyright for the game emerged.
On the Xbox Era podcast, it was stated that Microsoft has already purchased air time for Starfield ads in 2021, suggesting that the game will in fact be announced this year. Hopefully, when Microsoft and Bethesda finally fully unveil the title, we’ll get a clear release window.
Is there a Starfield trailer?
We have the initial teaser from E3 2018, which you can watch below.
From this teaser, we can see a few things about the game. Firstly, it doesn't take place on Earth. The planet shown has different landmasses than what we can find on the planet. We can also spot a star-shaped spaceship or satellite on the left. There isn’t much to decipher or go on here, so we’re still waiting for Microsoft to fully unveil the game.
Will Starfield be an Xbox exclusive?
We're not entirely sure yet, but it seems likely Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda's parent company, Zenimax, in September 2020 might mean that the game will be released as an Xbox exclusive. Or Starfield might be too big for that.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Xbox head Phil Spencer promised that already PlayStation exclusives like Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo would remain timed-exclusive for PlayStation consoles. When the acquisition went through in March though, he said that “gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”
As a new IP with no announced platforms just yet. It would make a lot of sense for Microsoft to claim Starfield as a major Xbox exclusive. Venture Beat’s Jeff Grubb backs this up, tweeting “Starfield is exclusive to Xbox and PC. Period. This is me confirming that,” on May 14, 2021.
Ironically, according to reporter Imran Khan, prior to the Microsoft acquisition, Sony was courting Bethesda for timed exclusivity on Starfield. It's unknown if any deal was made, but it could mean that Starfield might still be bound for the PlayStation 5. If there wasn't a deal, Sony might have to spend a bit extra to get Starfield.
Whenever Microsoft and Bethesda show off Starfield next, we’ll almost certainly get confirmation on whether or not it is exclusive.
Is there Starfield gameplay?
No, not yet. We do know that it's a sci-fi game. At E3 2019, Elon Musk chatted up Todd Howard about Starfield. From that conversation, it was made known that Starfield space travel will feel shakey.
"Traveling in space in our game, I want to say it's like flight in the '40s, like it's dangerous," says Howard. This implies a very scavenger-esque outlook to spacefaring in Starfield. In the conversation, Howard and Musk also discuss idiosyncratic elements to Starfield like collecting fuel and other things.
Is Elon Musk involved with Starfield?
Yes. Musk is a consultant in some capacity on the upcoming game.
How big will Starfield be?
Due to the limited information available, we don't know how big Starfield will be as a whole. What we do know, is that that there are at least four times the number of devs working on Starfield than Bethesda had on Skyrim or Fallout 4, implying it could be larger in scale.
We know from an interview with Howard that Starfield is exclusively a single-player game with procedurally generated elements, meaning Bethesda will be able to fully direct efforts to improving the single-player. Howard also mentioned that Bethesda's method to procedurally generate content has evolved immensely.
Tying into that, Howard confirmed in the interview that NPCs will play a large role in the game and cities will be massive. All of this to say, it sounds like Starfield will be absolutely massive.
Are there any Starfield leaks?
Yes! In addition to the potential release date being in 2021, there have been a number of screenshot leaks, showcasing the visual style Starfield is trying to create.
This image is the clearest picture that we've had on Starfield yet. It comes from Twitter user Skullzi, who claims to have received it directly from a Bethesda employee. From the image, we can glean our first look at Starfield's HUD. Players seem to have access to a weapon on hand. The one currently being used appears to be a shotgun. There also seems to be two other gauges. Perhaps one is for health and another is for oxygen? The spacesuit seems a bit janky, which ties into Howard's remark that space travel is dangerous in Starfield.
According to Skullzi, this leak comes from a Starfield 2018 build. The same person also leaked other images, showing more astronauts staring at spaceships. There are also claims that Starfield will feature multiple factions.
Some of these leaks were seemingly confirmed after a Bethesda employee was spotted sporting a shirt with a logo identical to the ones in the leaked photos. If leaks were able to get a very specific icon right, it's likely they got more right as well.
Although not an outright leak, Bethesda released a survey asking players about how they spend time in spaceships and what they like to do in said spaceships. Many players have taken this to suggest Bethesda was discussing Starfield in the survey, meaning that it could be used to eke out what features might be in the game. The survey mentioned something about Spaceship customization, implying that could be a feature in Starfield.
In the same survey, Bethesda mentions difficulty and gameplay pace, implying both could still be in flux for the upcoming game.
Starfield is now in development.
