Todd Howard Says Bethesda Envisions Starfield as a Long-Term Game

Loyal Bethesda fans know that each of the company’s games is for the long-term. For example, its older Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises are still being played today. Starfield is no exception, and as an interview with Todd Howard reveals, it was intentionally designed to be so.

Todd Howard, who directed and produced Bethesda’s most successful open-world RPG to date, sat down for an interview with Insomniac Games chief executive Ted Price and discussed several topics.

During the interview, Howard said that the developing team had taken cues from older games, particularly Skyrim, that are still being added on and modded by the playing community 12 years after its launch.

The same is true for Fallout, and the Bethesda game director said that they’ve found out that their fans want to play their games for a “very long time.”

Howard then added that they’re intentionally taking the long view with Starfield. One thing that they’re very concerned about is how they can continually develop the game and allow it to grow in a manner that’s natural and not forced.

The Bethesda CEO said that they’re considering what would Starfield look like for a certain period of time. He expressed with certainty that changes are going to happen in the long term and they’re getting ready for it.

“We've learned so much there. Giving ourselves a really, really good base of a game to build upon for everybody,” Howard concluded.

Credit: Screenshot/Bethesda

All of this only meant that Howard and his team were committed to continually improving Starfield based on constant feedback from the community. Improvements will come through both mod support, which will arrive next year, and periodic updates.

As proof of that, Bethesda had previously launched Update 1.7.33, which is the start of a series of updates that will introduce new functionalities including DLSS support. The patch triggered a negative response from certain players who are unhappy with the elimination of an infinite cash glitch in Starfield.