Starfield has been postponed; Long live Starfield! † pole

I too have been eager to get started with Starfield this fall. Meanwhile, there are more developers outside of Bethesda who can create believable open game worlds in which you can completely lose yourself, but there are few studios that can offer such experiences with so much immersion. CD Projekt Red comes close, but Bethesda remains uncrowned king, even considering that Skyrim and Fallout 4 aren’t quite as spacious and “free” as their predecessors.

Lovely News that Starfield may not be released even for a year of course no. I could already see myself cuddled up on the couch, while it was cold and gloomy outside, wrapped in a blanket with an Xbox controller in my hand. Going on an adventure in an amazing world I’m not creative enough to imagine beforehand. While we haven’t seen extensive gameplay footage yet, this game feels like the perfect game to lose myself in the holidays. So the party’s off now, sigh.

However, a few days after the disappointing announcement, a positive feeling prevails. Microsoft was also able to tell Bethesda that the game was supposed to release this fall at any cost. After all, Xbox and Game Pass groups could really use a title this big. I can already see Phil Spencer coming for coffee in Bethesda. “It’s good that you guys didn’t meet the deadline, Todd, but you’re making it work anyway. Good luck with that.”

Instead, it appears that Bethesda’s new owner is choosing to make extra space. No, not the universe from the game, but the space to properly complete the development and only release the game when it’s really finished. If the inappropriate — and disastrous — version of Cyberpunk 2077 gives us anything, we hope it’s the realization that the bug-ridden game is doing more harm than good. Building a strong reputation takes years, but is demolished a few days. That’s a painful lesson CD Projekt learned for the entire gaming industry.

Not to mention the so-called “crisis” that has plagued the industry. Games take a long time to realize, but publishers want to make money, so the game needs to be launched quickly. As a result, development employees can work odd hours for months at a time, negatively affecting their mental, physical, and family lives.

Now I’m not naive enough to think that delaying the game’s crunch will make it disappear completely; The problem is much deeper and is part of the foundation of the industry. However, I hope that slowly but surely a new normal will emerge where the games only emerge when they are truly finished, and this crisis is phased out because of this new normal. It might be a daydream, a utopia, but you have to start somewhere, right?

If you must be mad at someone, let it be at the head of Microsoft and Bethesda CEOs. journalist Jason Schreyer After the delay, it was previously mentioned that the developers at Bethesda were shocked by the previously announced release date last year. Until then, employees felt this was an impossible task, but hey, this release date needs to be announced to make the E3 corporate press conference delicious.

And it’s not Bethesda’s fault that there isn’t much on the way for Xbox this year either. Whether it’s because of Microsoft’s poor planning, the impact of the pandemic, or the fact that it only takes time for all these newly acquired developers to deliver the best products: the fact remains that Microsoft alone is responsible for having enough games all the time. general. To make Xbox and Game Pass worthwhile. Let’s wait for the Microsoft & Bethesda Show in June before we draw any concrete conclusions.

In short: shed a tear at Starfield’s postponement, but don’t grieve for it too long. Hopefully this is a sign on the wall that the end result will soon be something to write about. a sci-fi version of Skyrim of Fallout: New Vegas; An epic we can play for many years to come; A jewel in the Xbox lineup’s crown: Anything good takes time.