Not Everyone Likes Starfield; Todd Howard Claims it's Due to 'Dramatic Changes in the Market'
When explaining what elements of the RPG genre are most important to him, Todd Howard answered the question of why Starfield is as much of a Bethesda game as it is.
It can certainly be said that the RPG genre permeates almost the entire industry. If a game does not belong to it, it very often contains RPG elements like experience points, character progression, role playing, etc.
This fact was, sort of, exploited by Todd Howard, when he explained why Starfield such a Bethesda game. As part of the latest episode of The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook podcast (available below), he was asked by Ted Price - founder and CEO of studio Insomniac Games - about the changing expectations of gamers (the segment of interest begins at 24:58).
"I think [they changed - ed. note] dramatically. The genre itself has morphed into everything. I can't look at a game that doesn't have experience points or character levels. (...) What "officially" makes a game an RPG? I think old-school fans of the genre have their own lists of features and definitions. Me, I love RPGs because they can be anything. (...) You can turn it into even a racing game. It depends on what you pay attention to.
In terms of what we [as Bethesda - ed. note] want to see in a game, we try to stay true to who we are. We mix different elements of the genre. We also created a space shooter. Is it an RPG? Yes and no. How do we introduce elements that we think are important in an RPG? How do they fulfill their roles? How can we customize them? How can I develop them over time to make them even more "mine"? This is our approach to this question, far from saying 'RPG means a certain type of interaction.'"
Translating from "toddspeak" to ours - in Starfield, like in its previous works, Bethesda has relied on the player to define his own role in the world, whether it is Tamriel or outer space. Therefore, RPGs by Todd Howard and company have a large group of loyal fans, "buying" a certain convention, which, however, does not hit the taste of all players - as proven by the diverse reception of Starfield.
October 6 will mark a month since the game's release. It is available on PC and XSX/S, as well as in the PC/Xbox Games Pass service. Our review of Starfield can be found below.
