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Xbox wants Starfield to have the 12-year staying power of Skyrim

Dorfdad

Gold Member
Xbox and Bethesda want Starfield to be the longstanding hit Skyrim has been, but right now I’m unsure if they can pull it off. Well, head of Xbox Phil Spencer says as much at CCXP 2023, comparing the longevity of Skyrim to the plans Bethesda currently has for Starfield.

That’s our goal,” Spencer begins. “Skyrim is such an amazing hit from Bethesda Game Studios, and talking to Todd Howard and the team what they wanted to do as people who love space and space exploration is give them that same opportunity [as Skyrim].

“So we’ve already announced that we’ve got our next expansion coming, Shattered Space. We’ve already told the community that they’ll get all the modules that they need, so they can go and create their own content in Starfield, which has been so important to Skyrim. So a tonne of confidence that for many, many years, Starfield sitting very high in the gameplay.”


They certainly could if they invested time money and talent to improving what is a “bare bones” space simulation IMHO plenty of games have gone this route and recovered their stature. I don’t believe Microsoft or Todd want to take that time or effort to fix the game outside any planned dlc they have in the pipeline.

They will move on to elder scrolls and other titles imho.
 

Hugare

Member
No Way Smh GIF by MOODMAN


Even with a thousand mods and getting rid of the loading times, it would still be consisted of a bunch of poorly stitched together worlds

It could never have the freedom and sense of place of Skyrim and other Bethesda games

I understand what Bethesda was trying to do with Starfield, and the scope of their vision is commendable.

But its obvious why it was a "dream game" that never got made. Making a game about exploring different planets, making them interesting to explore, AND telling a story on top of it all is just nuts.

I also dont think that Star Citizen will pull it off, despite being in development for only God knows how long and having better tech backing it up (and also being less ambitious in its storytelling)

Pick 10 km of land and fill it to the brim with stuff to find and things to kill, Bethesda. Stick to the basics with Elders Scrolls and you'll be fine.
 
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Atrus

Gold Member
The best time to do this is before release and not delivering a product full of failed or half-finished mechanics.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
What if

Skyrim is so modded because it's a great game

And it's not a great game because it's so modded
Only time will tell. I don't recall Skyrim's story being anything remotely special. And neither is Starfields. By and large modding scene continues to carry Skyrim along. Not to mention Starfield is a new universe while Elder Scrolls has had years of world building and lore to fall back on.

2 very different beasts IMO.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
It's nice to want things but buddy, your game has to be at least somewhat good, engaging and worthwhile for that to happen. More people are playing Skyrim than they are playing Starfield on Steam right now, guys.

What the fuck are you even talking about? Did you not play your own game? How can anyone who played this come up with these wild ideas?

It doesn't even have 12 week staying power, lmao.
 
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Shubh_C63

Member
Gameplay and Loot was the only saving grace of StarField. And I think they took help of some other developer to nail that.

They would have to release 6 expansions in 12 years to have any hope to accomplish that.
 

Dazraell

Member
I don't think this game will have even half of Skyrim and Fallout's relevancy

That being said, I do think modders will keep Starfield alive for years. There is plenty of sci-fi fans who know Creation Engine and with dedicated tools they will be able to do some really cool stuff which in extent should keep players' attention after Bethesda will move on to their next projects
 

Barakov

Member
Xbox and Bethesda want Starfield to be the longstanding hit Skyrim has been, but right now I’m unsure if they can pull it off. Well, head of Xbox Phil Spencer says as much at CCXP 2023, comparing the longevity of Skyrim to the plans Bethesda currently has for Starfield.

That’s our goal,” Spencer begins. “Skyrim is such an amazing hit from Bethesda Game Studios, and talking to Todd Howard and the team what they wanted to do as people who love space and space exploration is give them that same opportunity [as Skyrim].

“So we’ve already announced that we’ve got our next expansion coming, Shattered Space. We’ve already told the community that they’ll get all the modules that they need, so they can go and create their own content in Starfield, which has been so important to Skyrim. So a tonne of confidence that for many, many years, Starfield sitting very high in the gameplay.”

Season 9 Idk GIF by The Office

Eh, maybe. The staying power of Skyrim was because of mods. If a complete overhaul mod comes out that makes the experience more coherent then it might happen. Bethesda shouldn't definitely went with the less is more approach. Starfield's scope is what makes the vanilla version kind of boring. It definitely lacks the WOW factor even vanilla Skyrim had.

The mod scene has its' work cut out for them.
 

Porticus

Banned
Only time will tell. I don't recall Skyrim's story being anything remotely special. And neither is Starfields. By and large modding scene continues to carry Skyrim along. Not to mention Starfield is a new universe while Elder Scrolls has had years of world building and lore to fall back on.

2 very different beasts IMO.
Sure Skyrim is a great game because of the story and not the sandbox gameplay.

Please smoke and drink less.
 

SHA

Member
It's doable, I'm serious, people keep digging for something worthy once in a while, this way worth a million marketing teams cause some years are dry, then scarcity triggers these folks and boom! magic happens.
 

SHA

Member
It’s possible but I don’t think it has a good chance.

Skyrim was more than the game itself. It had memes and memorable stuff that was made popular beyond the game itself. Arrow in the knee, giant space program, one of greatest osts, fus ro dah, lore, and of course mods.

Mods are amazing but it’s not what is being talked about and discussed in Skyrim/Bethesda games community. It was everything else. Unfortunately the everything else is what’s Starfield is lacking.
Cause every lazy person dreamed to be carefree as barbarians once in their lifetime, futuristic games brings more misery and lots of duties , no one wants that.
 
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Bethesda better pull a CDPR and keep supporting the game with serious content updates over the next few years then. I've loved my time with it, and it has so much potential for expansion, but I also understand a lot of the criticism and I think they are going to have to do amazing updates if they want it to have as long a lifespan as Skyrim
 

fallingdove

Member
I think it’s possible. Starfield is so boring, it’s going to take most people 12 years to push through to the end. Slog as a service…

Every time boot it up, I am reminded by how obnoxiously slooooow the game is.
 

Varteras

Member
file-20200303-66112-x8aek4.jpg

888mgp.jpg


All jokes aside, I'm sure the mod community will do some great things with the game. I have serious doubts it'll achieve what Skyrim did, though.
 
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