What a difference a week makes.
So just recently, I wrote a blog post regarding the future for “Starfield”, probably my favorite video game of all time. I was and remain optimistic about the future of the game, but made it clear that I believe Bethesda needs to communicate better with the player base, because they are letting the “Doom & Gloom”-crowd dominate the narrative regarding the game.
Well, last week we got news – after a fashion – regarding “Starfield”, and it looks fairly promising. This wasn’t from Bethesda, mind you, and still falls into the realm of ‘not quite rumors’ status, but still it comes from good sources, so I’m choosing to believe it.
Earlier this year, Bethesda chose to show off what they have been working on regarding “Starfield” to a small group of influencers, and while they were put under a non-disclosure agreement regarding specifics, many were apparently quite excited regarding the future of the game. Some apparently referred to it as “Starfield 2.0”, while others weren’t quite ready to go that far, but still were impressed with the coming changes.
The problem was, the “Influencers” they chose to share this information with aren’t the usual crowd of “Starfield” content creators, bloggers, or those that normally cover the game regularly. Or if they were, they take their NDA very seriously, and haven’t leaked any information as far as I can tell. But just last week, leaks appeared, and now we suddenly have something to talk about!
So if these leaks are to be believed, Bethesda have made significant changes to the Creation engine, which have thus allowed them to make significant changes to “Starfield” itself. One such change is to modify loading screens for space travel. From what I’ve heard but can’t confirm, instead of a short cut-scene for launching from a planet, then fading to black, the cut-scene will be extended to include more of the flight. This will remove the need for the black loading screen, and make the game feel more seamless, at least for space travel.
Apparently there are more changes for space travel, as well, which will significantly improve that portion for the game, but we’ll have to see if that actually comes to pass.
While it is great that Bethesda is reportedly working on a major update to the game, as well as a story DLC (“Terran Armada”), now we have some new problems to deal with in the “Starfield” community. The first is that the update isn’t expected to arrive until March 2026 at the earliest, perhaps not even until June or so. That would mean there would be no real update to the game for basically 15-18 months, not including unofficial mods, of course. That alone has some fans rather upset, especially when last March Bethesda stated on Twitter that they had big plans for this year, not 2026.
Yes, delays happen, but one leak suggests that Bethesda chose to delay this major update, because “Grand Theft Auto 6” got delayed to Autumn 2026, so they felt they could get away with pushing the “Starfield” update into 2026, too. While one side sees this as a good thing, taking pressure off of the developers, and giving them time to get the update and DLC fully cooked, others see this as deliberately breaking their word to fans.
Sigh
Nobody gave their word that updates were coming in 2025. Yes, Todd Howard said they were aiming for annual DLC, and Bethesda’s community moderation team said on Twitter that they had big plans for this year that they couldn’t talk about, one thing remains true: Delays happen. The reasons for those delays don’t matter. As long as the update comes out when it is ready, I’ll be happy, and if I’ve moved on to other games in the meantime, I’ll surely come back and give it a try when it comes out.
The other problem these leaks create is the fans tendency to debate what the update includes. Yes, we’ve heard leaks regarding how extensive this update will be, but other leaks say we should temper our expectations some, as it won’t be as large as others have suggested. So, I personally tend to listen to the latter advice there, but others?… Not so much.
Likely by the time this update – let alone the DLC itself – comes out, fans will expect “Starfield” to have hundreds of changes both big and small. They will expect every one of their ideas for the game to be implemented, even if those ideas conflict with the wishes of other fans. Hell, they will expect the game to order them pizza and massage their feet while they play!
Sarah disliked that.
The point is, by the time the update comes out – assuming it actually does come out, and whenever that might be – the expectations will be so high that there is no way that many fans will not be disappointed. Basically, it will be a Lose/Lose situation for Bethesda. They will have taken so long to update the game that many fans will expect it to include every feature including the kitchen sink, and there is no way it will please everyone. But if Bethesda rushes it out, then it will have bugs, angering fans even more.
Okay, nevermind… The update will have bugs regardless. This is a Bethesda game, after all. Bugs are part of the charm of their games.
Another issue that this delay or whatever you want to call it, is the DLC itself. Let’s say the update is pushed back to March 2026, which I find to be rather optimistic, but maybe it happens? Anyway, does the DLC come out alongside this update, like “Phantom Liberty” came out alongside the major revamp of “Cyberpunk 2077”? Somehow I doubt that, but if it doesn’t, there will be fans that get mad about that. If it is pushed back to Summer 2026, that is probably a reasonable release window, but who knows?
One thing is certain, though. Bethesda absolutely will not want to launch the update, let alone the DLC, in Autumn 2026. Every major AAA game publishing house is going to avoid launching games and DLC against the juggernaut that will be GTA 6.
Finally, regardless of when the Update 2.0 and next DLC for “Starfield” comes out, there will absolutely be fans of “Fallout” and especially “The Elder Scrolls” who will blame this content for delaying “Elder Scrolls 6” and “Fallout 5”. Because to them, “Starfield” shouldn’t exist, and certainly shouldn’t receive any updates over their preferred game series.
Seriously kids, game companies have dedicated development teams that work on different games at the same time. A “Fallout 5” team, an “Elder Scrolls 6” team, and yes, a “Starfield” team. No one game is stealing development time from the others. Please grow up.
Anyway, I am hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst when it comes to “Starfield” and its future content. As I said before, I expect the community will be salty as f**k by the time any update comes out, and that falls directly on Bethesda for their lack of communication with said community. They could be proactive, tempering expectations, while building hype for this content… But based on Bethesda’s history with “Starfield”, that won’t happen.
When this content finally drops, and Bethesda has to watch the community freak out because ‘it isn’t what they wanted and “Starfield” is still a failure’, I hope they take a look at how they handle community management, and make some changes. Constantly staying quiet, and using ‘leaks’ to quell disquiet among the “Starfield” community (yes, I fully believe Bethesda ‘encouraged’ some of these leaks) just isn’t going to fly forever.
I know the fans don’t always come off as adults, but we mostly are, and Bethesda really needs to treat us as such. Open communication, be it good news or bad, would serve them well in the long term.
