Despite only just being released and with one DLC already on the way, Starfield already has 5 years worth of content mapped out for it.
In typical Bethesda fashion, Starfield has given players plenty to do from exploring planets vaguely resembling Skyrim locations to committing the most heinous crimes. With over 1,000 planets to navigate, Bethesda’s latest RPG is set to continue hosting a player base long into the future which was the case with its previous titles such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the Fallout series. With this in mind, Starfield director Todd Howard reveals the team made the game with this knowledge in mind.
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In an interview with Game Makers Notebook, Howard claims that the scope was more intentional than ever before and the lifecycle of previous Bethesda games was a key driving force in the making of Starfield. When asked by Insomniac CEO Ted Price about the “complexity” needed in modern games, Todd replied “I think it starts with the developers. It has to, right? I think it starts with technology. You’re seeing new hardware and you’re wanting to use it in new ways.”
“The one thing I have noticed is that more games are played for a long time,” Howard continued. “That creates an expectation. When I’m going into something new, how does this compare with a mature game that I’ve been playing for a while?”
Howard explains that Skyrim’s shelf-life in particular impacted Starfield’s development. “One of the things we’ve learned from our previous games is that people want to play them for a very long time,” he explained. “People are going to ask, what does Starfield look like in three months, what does it look like in six months, a year, two years, three years, four years, five years? We’ve learned that that’s going to happen so let’s be ready for it, make the most of it, and embrace it.”
Although Howard doesn’t go into detail about the team’s plans for the next five years of Starfield, it is exciting enough to know they exist. Whatever they may be, they will follow after Starfield’s Shattered Space DLC which is reported to launch around March 2024.