It seems like a lifetime since Starfield was released, but it wasn’t even two years ago that Bethesda Game Studios’ space-based RPG epic hit the market. For many, the game came and went without too much of an impact, and for others, it was the title of a lifetime, positively bursting at the seams with untold potential.
I’m probably in the former camp there.
Recently, the team posted on social media, expressing an appreciation for the patience of fans worldwide and stressing that there are exciting things in store for Starfield this year, but the squad is remaining tight-lipped for now.
Next Starfield DLC, Anyone?
In September, a year after Starfield was released, Bethesda published Shattered Space, the first (and so far, only) major expansion for the game. It wasn’t an overwhelming thing and it left some players feeling short-changed, but at least it was an evolution on the game that has kind of run stagnant over the last eighteen months or so.
The game that took 20 years to emerge fully seemed to run out of steam very early on, which wasn’t good.
If we look at some representative examples of how the world is treating Starfield, we can see that things aren’t looking too positive. On Twitch, the game peaked at 552,021 viewers when it was released, but as I write this, just 40 people are watching Starfield gameplay.
By contrast, Fallout 4 has 648 viewers, which isn’t much better, but that game is a decade old.
On Steam, Starfield’s player count has dropped by 99% since its release. Talking of Fallout 4, the post-apocalyptic RPG’s player count on the PC platform more than tripled Starfield’s count at the time of writing.
Related: One Month Later, I’ve Forgotten About Starfield
That’s part and parcel of the lifecycle of a single-player game, though – so I won’t be too harsh on Starfield for not bucking the trend.
Bethesda planned to release one major expansion for Starfield every year, and given the track record for how early we heard about Shattered Space, we should have something on the board for the next expansion, but never mind. It has been almost six months since Shattered Space dropped, and we’re none the wiser.
But fear not! On social media, the team at Bethesda Game Studios assured fans that all is well and that there’s something in the pipeline:
We know you’re eager for an update, and we truly appreciate your passion for Starfield. The team has been hard at work, and while we’re not ready to share specific details just yet, we have a lot of exciting things planned for the game this year that we can’t wait to talk about when the time is right.
We’re always listening and taking your feedback to heart. Thanks for being part of this journey with us.
Let’s bear in mind that the folks at Bethesda haven’t given us a solid update on The Elder Scrolls 6 in almost a decade, so there’s that.
Are you still playing Starfield? Let me know in the comments what you’re up to out there in the vast expanse of space.
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Are they going to announce that the whole thing was an April fool’s joke and release the actual game after?