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[LectureMaster]

Ex-Starfield Developer Explains Major Reason for the Game's Missing 'Bethesda Magic'

An ex-Bethesda dev explains why some players may have felt that Starfield lacked the same magic as the studio's earlier titles like Skyrim.

gamerant.com

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A former Bethesda developer has explained that Starfield may have fallen flat for some users because of a lack of freedom in development. Like any major studio, Bethesda is no stranger to critical responses from players, despite, or perhaps because of, building a devoted fanbase through a history of strong releases. While Starfield was largely a success and received plenty of praise, some felt that it was missing something the studio's previous efforts shared, and now an ex-dev has given some insight as to why.

Despite losing some of its luster over time, Starfield was Bethesda's biggest-ever game launch, drawing over six million players in one day. Initial reviews were likewise positive, with many praising its environments, combat, and story. Still, its ratings started to dip after more people spent more time with it, and some fans have expressed that the game felt a little shallow and stale, especially in light of earlier fan-favorite works from the studio like Skyrim.

At a Game Developers Conference talk reported by PC Gamer, Nate Purkeypile, a former Bethesda dev, touched on the reason why Starfield may have felt this way. According to Purkeypile, Bethesda increasingly bogged developers down in meetings and limited their freedom as the studio got bigger. He reported that some aspects of Skyrim, like its werewolves and the entire city of Blackreach, came from devs' passion projects they pursued on the side, but that sort of experimentation wasn't possible with Starfield. However, not everyone felt that lack of creativity. God of War director David Jaffe said Starfield had one of the best narratives in modern gaming, but this more restricted development model could explain why the game fell flat for others.

Ex-Bethesda Dev Claims Starfield Did Not Give Developers as Much Freedom as Skyrim​

Purkeypile clarified that his comments about a lack of developer freedom were not an attack on the studio but rather an inevitable consequence of large teams. He explained that it would be "a mess" if 500 people all broke normal workflows to experiment with their own ideas, but those sorts of risks are still reasonable in a team of just 100 people. Given how big Bethesda is now, it can't justify giving everyone unlimited freedom and still put out a complete game on time. This falls in line with previous comments from another Starfield dev who said game development is a series of tough decisions, which leads to a disconnect with players.

Bethesda's increasingly corporate and meeting-heavy structure was enough to drive Purkeypile away from the company, but it's unclear how it might affect future titles. All eyes are now on the next Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, so it'll be interesting to see if they manage to re-capture the old Bethesda magic. Some rumors suggest the studio could offer the first real look at Elder Scrolls 6 by July 2025, but fans will have to wait and see to know anything more for sure.

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[mansoor1980]

the problem is the core idea itself
space is infinite , if you design a game around that you will need manpower/time and a cutting edge graphics engine.

 

[intbal]

My sincerest condolences for anyone who has to grow up with the last name "Purkeypile".

 

[Topher]

I liked Starfield, but it never lived up to the "Skyrim in space" moniker or the massive hype Microsoft and Bethesda created for the game.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

can this studio even have the possibility to achieve a BG3 moment with the next Elder Scrolls?

 

[LavitzSlambert]

With interactive media, it's extremely important to experiment and iterate on design. Little tweaks and diversions can transform a run of the mill level into an unforgettable classic. Large dev teams with lots of overhead and complex requirements limits people's abilities to create, and can water down games. There are advantages to big teams and specialization, but that is mainly realized through scaling an established idea. You can only deviate so much, it's difficult to prototype anything as an individual when you are dependent on so many others. It's why many large games don't seem to have a personality of their own, outside of a few obsessives who have creative control over the entire game (Kojima).

 

[Punished Miku]

Little surprising they wouldn't have small groups just make a few things on their own. With the game's structure you can literally pop almost anything you can think of on a planet somewhere and it really wouldn't be out of place. They have a whole galaxy.

Sounds like they just needed all staff on core tasks and didn't have time for that kind of development style. Probably a lot easier to make games that way in the 360 era with smaller teams.

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[LectureMaster]

I liked Starfield, but it never lived up to the "Skyrim in space" moniker or the massive hype Microsoft and Bethesda created for the game.

 

[sendit]

Nah, it was because of the PG integalactic strip club:

The game was made to cater to the Fortnite age group.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

I can't help but roll my eyes when anyone in the industry uses

"insert studio name" magic

in a non-sarcastic way after the way Bioware kept talking about the Bioware magic in relation to ME: Andromeda.

Talented, creative and hard working developers make a product great.

All companies needs suits and management to keep the lights on, but it's important to let the creatives have some managed freedom. Because if the talent leave or lose the passion, your studio name just becomes a shadow of former greatness.

 

[Sooner]

Or maybe 100 other more talented open-world development studios long surpassed Bethesda while they haven't evolved at all in 15 years.

 

[HRK69]

can this studio even have the possibility to achieve a BG3 moment with the next Elder Scrolls?

Nah, I really doubt it

Even if they bought Larian Studios (for whatever reason), they would still find a way to fuck it up

 

[Nonehxc]

Ex-Starfield Developer Explains Major Reason for the Game's Missing 'Bethesda Magic'

An ex-Bethesda dev explains why some players may have felt that Starfield lacked the same magic as the studio's earlier titles like Skyrim.

gamerant.com

---

A former Bethesda developer has explained that Starfield may have fallen flat for some users because of a lack of freedom in development. Like any major studio, Bethesda is no stranger to critical responses from players, despite, or perhaps because of, building a devoted fanbase through a history of strong releases. While Starfield was largely a success and received plenty of praise, some felt that it was missing something the studio's previous efforts shared, and now an ex-dev has given some insight as to why.

Despite losing some of its luster over time, Starfield was Bethesda's biggest-ever game launch, drawing over six million players in one day. Initial reviews were likewise positive, with many praising its environments, combat, and story. Still, its ratings started to dip after more people spent more time with it, and some fans have expressed that the game felt a little shallow and stale, especially in light of earlier fan-favorite works from the studio like Skyrim.

At a Game Developers Conference talk reported by PC Gamer, Nate Purkeypile, a former Bethesda dev, touched on the reason why Starfield may have felt this way. According to Purkeypile, Bethesda increasingly bogged developers down in meetings and limited their freedom as the studio got bigger. He reported that some aspects of Skyrim, like its werewolves and the entire city of Blackreach, came from devs' passion projects they pursued on the side, but that sort of experimentation wasn't possible with Starfield. However, not everyone felt that lack of creativity. God of War director David Jaffe said Starfield had one of the best narratives in modern gaming, but this more restricted development model could explain why the game fell flat for others.

Ex-Bethesda Dev Claims Starfield Did Not Give Developers as Much Freedom as Skyrim​

Purkeypile clarified that his comments about a lack of developer freedom were not an attack on the studio but rather an inevitable consequence of large teams. He explained that it would be "a mess" if 500 people all broke normal workflows to experiment with their own ideas, but those sorts of risks are still reasonable in a team of just 100 people. Given how big Bethesda is now, it can't justify giving everyone unlimited freedom and still put out a complete game on time. This falls in line with previous comments from another Starfield dev who said game development is a series of tough decisions, which leads to a disconnect with players.

Bethesda's increasingly corporate and meeting-heavy structure was enough to drive Purkeypile away from the company, but it's unclear how it might affect future titles. All eyes are now on the next Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, so it'll be interesting to see if they manage to re-capture the old Bethesda magic. Some rumors suggest the studio could offer the first real look at Elder Scrolls 6 by July 2025, but fans will have to wait and see to know anything more for sure.

---

David Jaffe really said Starfield has 'one of the best narratives in modern gaming'?

Ffs, what drugs and old age do to the brain.

The narrative was the most trite and unimaginative sci-fi shtick ever. It was barely a skeleton of a script. Now, the factions and companions sidequests on the other hand were a bit entertaining, nothing to write home about but oh well.

The rest of the humongous game...MEH.

If I must declare how much I'm enjoying Veilguard right now in contrast to the boredom that Starfield was, well, you know Toddler Howard shitted his diapers real good.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Starfield more like boreafield

 

[mitch1971]

Maybe the ideas they had for it were 20 years out of date, like its engine.

 

[Ashamam]

While Starfield was largely a success and received plenty of praise, some felt that it was missing something the studio's previous efforts shared

Largely a success, yeah I don't think so. Largely falling short of expectations is the reality.

 

[Sentenza]

Or maybe 100 other more talented open-world development studios long surpassed Bethesda while they haven't evolved at all in 15 years.

It’s honestly baffling how they turned years of massive commercial success into complete inertia, rather than leverage their “industry leadership” to experiment, improve their tech and be at the cutting edge of what the genre is capable for.

 

[nial]

I can't help but roll my eyes when anyone in the industry uses

"insert studio name" magic

in a non-sarcastic way after the way Bioware kept talking about the Bioware magic in relation to ME: Andromeda.

Talented, creative and hard working developers make a product great.

All companies needs suits and management to keep the lights on, but it's important to let the creatives have some managed freedom. Because if the talent leave or lose the passion, your studio name just becomes a shadow of former greatness.

"The overall summary emphasized that what lies behind their success is not special magic, but "small accumulations" and "passionate efforts". In a two-week cycle, they repeatedly reviewed and improved the game, deepening the bonds between the team as they created it.
They also mentioned their strategy of "We don't have to aim to be the best, we just need to shine where we can do our best work". This is an expression of Team ASOBI's attitude of trying to deliver an experience that players around the world can truly enjoy, like "the best picnic on a quiet beach"."

 

[kpopSuperstar]

They should never have made it bigger than our solar system, or maybe even just one planet like future Mars.

 

[LRKD]

God of War director David Jaffe said Starfield had one of the best narratives in modern gaming,

---

Is he unironically retarded? It had some of the worst writing in a video game i have ever seen. I was genuinely insulted by how bad it was during the part where you talk to the church leader, and he finds the answer to the riddle by re ordering a couple random words you heard from the other faction/religions. Like yup the secret riddle was happening to cut two words together, and realizing it sounded like a location in a different galaxy. And that is actually the super-secret hide out spot for the guy who knows all the secrets or something.

I can hardly remember it, I played it at launch, and all I remember now, is how much it fucking pissed me off at how retarded the story was at this particular point. The rest is bad, but this one part was offensively bad.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

"The overall summary emphasized that what lies behind their success is not special magic, but "small accumulations" and "passionate efforts". In a two-week cycle, they repeatedly reviewed and improved the game, deepening the bonds between the team as they created it.
They also mentioned their strategy of "We don't have to aim to be the best, we just need to shine where we can do our best work". This is an expression of Team ASOBI's attitude of trying to deliver an experience that players around the world can truly enjoy, like "the best picnic on a quiet beach"."

Sounds like a healthy studio for sure. And seeing the end product I'd say it shines through.

 

[calico]

I think they could have released a Skyrim-esque TES instead and it would have been wildly successful, so idk if it's that model that's necessarily out of date.

Starfield is conceptually very different, and for that concept to ever be well realised -if it even can be- probably requires significant AI involvement for dynamic content creation and for the tech side of it to be seamless. As soon as they knew they were going to need load screens everywhere, they may as well have shelved the whole idea right then. We're probably 20+ years away from being able to do something like this well.

 

[Ritsumei2020]

Tried it, but the third or fourth time the game sent me to a new location and nothing happened in the new location apart for an NPC telling me to go somewhere else…I was like “I am ready for the game to start now please”.

I think they should rename the game to “messenger simulator”

Also don't they have phones in the future?

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

The problem is boomer culture in BGS in general. As long as Todd and Emil with their cast-iron 90s dev philosophy are at the helm, nothing will save the studio from it's core problems, like retarded tech and absolutley abysmal low quality Wikipedia writing.

 

[damidu]

there is no magic ex-dev man.
the industry just leapfrogged you long ago, while you kept re-skinning the same archaic turd once every decade.

 

[Fess]

the problem is the core idea itself
space is infinite , if you design a game around that you will need manpower/time and a cutting edge graphics engine.

The graphics engine is not the problem. It can look great. And through their engine the interactivity is still ahead of almost everything that isn’t VR.

The problem is the lack of content. Manpower and time as you say. Or AI tbh and procedural generation. To fill out entire planets they can’t sit and craft it themselves with a team of 200 people or whatever.

They really needed to have AI and procedural generation for this. To get enough cities and dungeons and whole ecosystems of creatures and nature and general population. There is no way to build it all manually. They procedurally add predesigned enemy bases and small settlements and bases now. It’s not enough. Too much copy-paste content. Even a thousand variations wouldn’t be enough.

The planets themselves are great with different biomes and all that. But it’s not like humanity just moved to this area. It’s extremely unrealistic to have cities with a population of a couple hundred citizens and just one city per planet.

And why aren’t enemy bases conquered and npcs moving in efter they’re cleared? Could’ve done it like in Diablo 4. With a loot chest for some legendary loot, at least give me a reason to bother going there and waste ammo.
Then they could have a unique merchant move in to get some even better loot, increasing in some merchant level system with each base you take over, pushing you to clear them. After a certain amount of conquered bases it could generate a city.

They barely even push you to use your carefully designed spaceship either. Could’ve made it a starter choice to have immersive space flights, turn the flights and being on a spaceship into an adventure in itself. Stuff breaking, asteroid fields, pirates, internal struggles. And let those who want a fast travel adventure keep on bouncing around the galaxy without touching the spaceship if they want.

And what happened to the modding that was supposed to be the best and deepest ever?

Sigh.

There is so much they could do to improve it.
I’m one of those rare ones who really enjoyed the game so for me it’s frustrating. I can see all the potential. But also all the missed opportunities.

And there isn’t likely another similar game popping up from nowhere, and Star Citizen will never be finished and is more focused on the online aspect, snd Squadron 42 is too linear, and Mass Effect will probably be crap, and I’m getting old so a sequel to Starfield is unrealistic to wait for. So this was it really. Sad panda.

 

[Ammogeddon]

BGS games are no longer made by people, they’re made by a corporation.

 

[Fess]

Also don't they have phones in the future?

Lol interesting question, there is an absurd quest where a strange spaceship pops up and drifting in orbit on a planet and can’t be contacted

Spoiler: in case someone wants to go in blind

The ship is just sitting there, looking scary, nothing like any common human spaceship, looks alien.

No communication works, incompatible techs. The planet people try to call the spaceship with current communication tech but it’s all white noise crackles and buzzes.

And eventually they think it’s aliens, debates if they should shoot it down.

But with some quest progression you eventually board it. And the confusion kicks in.

It turns out that this one ship has humans on it. It has just taken generations to reach that part of the space because of other warp tech, compared to the rest of the people who zapped there fast and has already lived there for generations.

On the spaceship they were equally confused. No way to communicate, same white noise. And they see life on the planet but can’t see what it is. And essentially has drifted about in orbit thinking it’s an alien infested planet and debates if they should go down to conquer it.

As many things it’s badly executed and rushed and they should’ve fleshed it out into whole huge storyline, but it’s still cool and kinda hilarious.

 

[JimmyRustler]

What? The game had no soul. Most environments looked like they were not even hand crafted but came out of a generator. I still can’t and will never understand why it took them so long to make this game.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Nah, it was because of the PG integalactic strip club:

The game was made to cater to the Fortnite age group.

This caters to those who wish humanity all the harm possible.

 

[rkofan87]

i think if it was like me with just on the plant stuff no manual space travel i would have liked it more

 

[Team Andromeda]

The game is amazing but I would have liked to have been able to fly to a Planet Moon's in real time with no breaks.
Hopefully that and more land vehicles will be in the sequel

 

[Radical_3d]

I’d argue that the problem of the game is precisely that Bethesda “magic”…

 

[Novaex]

One of the worst games I played in the last 10 years. I hope their marketing team got a huge raise. They did a great job at selling this turd.

 

[mdkirby]

Erm what?

“500 people all broke normal workflows to experiment with their own ideas, but those sorts of risks are still reasonable in a team of just 100 people. Given how big Bethesda is now, it can't justify giving everyone unlimited freedom and still put out a complete game on time.”

500 people - oof too hard to finish a game on time, so you can’t experiment.

100 people - yeah there’s time to experiment

These studios need to shrink.

 

[Gp1]

They made a space game where exploring space is boring, navigate on the planet surface is boring, the fps part is solid but boring and the RPG part is the same ole Bethesda structure but boring.

One of the coolest ship's customization systems of the genre, compromised by the fact that you don't have a single incentive to actually fly the ship.

An interesting narrative device wasted on a poorly written and bland script, with a bunch of the most boring companions in Bethesda history. There isn't a single character whose name you can remember.

Just copy Elite Dangerous/No man sky flight/exploration/transition system, give a mass effect/star trek flair, use the game current strong points (basically the fps and the ship customization), insert the good old "gamebryo rpg" over it and, violà, long tail GOTY.

 

[Hudo]

Sounds to me like both the producer and game director are pretty bad at their jobs.

 

[Ritsumei2020]

They made a space game where exploring space is boring, navigate on the planet surface is boring, the fps part is solid but boring and the RPG part is the same ole Bethesda structure but boring.

One of the coolest ship's customization systems of the genre, compromised by the fact that you don't have a single incentive to actually fly the ship.

An interesting narrative device wasted on a poorly written and bland script, with a bunch of the most boring companions in Bethesda history. There isn't a single character whose name you can remember.

Just copy Elite Dangerous/No man sky flight/exploration/transition system, give a mass effect/star trek flair, use the game current strong points (basically the fps and the ship customization), insert the good old "gamebryo rpg" over it and, violà, long tail GOTY.

It doesn't help that NPCs are ugly and badly animated. They could have been straight out of a 360 game for all I could see.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

I think a lot of work and effort went into creating core of the game.

Other stuff that they could build on top didn’t get chance.

I didn’t play Fallout 4 on release but heard it had similar issues. All of its systems weren’t properly in place. Currently its quite good and addictive.

I only hope to see they make space travel harder and require material mining if we want to take a trip. All of its systems should come together and require me to indulge in them.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Or maybe 100 other more talented open-world development studios long surpassed Bethesda while they haven't evolved at all in 15 years.

Basically this.

The core concept of Starfield was fantastic, and devs with a different mindset could have made something truly great. One of biggest missed opportunities. A reason for this is that many devs (too many) have forgotten what makes games fun.

 

[N0S]

But Uncle Phil gave everybody full creative freedom

 

[Buggy Loop]

the problem is the core idea itself
space is infinite , if you design a game around that you will need manpower/time and a cutting edge graphics engine.

Infinite space or hundreds of solar systems is boring. Ultimately all space games going for big scale have this problem.

A smaller more focused solar system would be better than 400 billions stars galaxy simulation

 

[Pasta la Vista]

If they double down on the settlement/ship building shit in ES 6 I am out.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

I still have hope that Elder Scrolls VI will end up being the best and most fun game since 2015 even in the base game. Mods will just make it become true of course.

I don't think it'll be close to Starfield's crap level because they'll most likely handcraft Elder Scrolls VI just like Morrowind to Skyrim or the recent few Fallout games so it won't be randomly generated like Starfield.

They also build up so much lore with the Elder Scrolls series easily having the best and deepest fantasy lore out of every fantasy series so even if they half ass the game, it should still be near perfect.

 

[Saber]

I would argue that they did have the freedom.
It's just that boriness, blandness and bloatiness are like their signature work. This is 100% Bethesda like game, this is their magic and its easy to identify.

 

[Sonik]

Bethesda like almost every old Western dev is a husk of its former self, that's why Starfield was mid af and that's why they're never make another great game

 

[Fess]

I only hope to see they make space travel harder and require material mining if we want to take a trip. All of its systems should come together and require me to indulge in them.

Yeah. Fast traveling is too easy. It makes you skip the actual space adventure. Skip your ship. It’s a missed opportunity to not do more with what they have there, it’s awesome that you can walk on the spaceship and your crew walk around and talk and stuff, perfect setup for a Mass Effect type of experience on the ship.

I get that no easy fast travel could become annoying. Because of the way it’s built. Quests currently take you back and forth between planets. Would be frustrating to have no fast travel.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. If they would focus on having quests on the same planet you wouldn’t fast travel all over the galaxy. Like in the DLC, there you’re staying doing planetary quests for 50 hours or so. If they would build it like that they could make actual space flights more immersive and like an adventure in itself.

No Man’s Sky is built the same way, same flaws, after awhile you just build a teleporter asap and a trade terminal and you don’t bother flying anywhere, because it’s easier and faster to just fast travel to space stations and bases and buy and sell through a terminal than flying away and visit merchants. Then you lose the sense of discovery and size of the galaxy.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Yeah. Fast traveling is too easy. It makes you skip the actual space adventure. Skip your ship. It’s a missed opportunity to not do more with what they have there, it’s awesome that you can walk on the spaceship and your crew walk around and talk and stuff, perfect setup for a Mass Effect type of experience on the ship.

I get that no easy fast travel could become annoying. Because of the way it’s built. Quests currently take you back and forth between planets. Would be frustrating to have no fast travel.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. If they would focus on having quests on the same planet you wouldn’t fast travel all over the galaxy. Like in the DLC, there you’re staying doing planetary quests for 50 hours or so. If they would build it like that they could make actual space flights more immersive and like an adventure in itself.

No Man’s Sky is built the same way, same flaws, after awhile you just build a teleporter asap and a trade terminal and you don’t bother flying anywhere, because it’s easier and faster to just fast travel to space stations and bases and buy and sell through a terminal than flying away and visit merchants. Then you lose the sense of discovery and size of the galaxy.

I remember game tells you that interplanetary expenses are paid by Constellation.

Maybe they should get player to work to cover up some of the expenses.

Having that element of finding fuel mid quest can also be done in interesting ways and can add to the story.

 

[Fess]

I remember game tells you that interplanetary expenses are paid by Constellation.

Maybe they should get player to work to cover up some of the expenses.

Having that element of finding fuel mid quest can also be done in interesting ways and can add to the story.

Yeah they should do something with that. They could have a menu choice - Immersive Space Flights On/Off.