Todd Howard Regrets That Bethesda Didn't Support Skyrim and Fallout 4 Longer; Starfield Is Set to Receive Another DLC
Starfield: Shattered Space won't be the only expansion to Bethesda's space RPG. Todd Howard assured that the company is betting on the long-term development of its games.
Starfield will receive at least one more major expansion. This was the promise made by Todd Howard during a conversation with the YouTuber who runs the MrMattyPlays channel.
The American revealed some information not only about Bethesda's latest space RPG but also about the future of the company's other brands. However, this news may not necessarily please the fans of the studio's cult series.
Starfield: Shattered Space like Fallout 4: Far Harbor
During the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, the long-awaited story expansion: Shattered Space was officially presented. The stream verified the locations of the setting as the secret planet of the Va’Run family and the city of Dazra situated on it. Howard revealed that while playing the expansion, we will spend most of our time in this new world - focusing on one planet allowed the devs to prepare all its content "by hand."
The bulk of that expansion pack, once you get to the city and the planet, it pretty much takes place there [on the new planet]. It allows us to build a landscape like we would traditionally do.
This is a significant difference compared to the base game. Before Starfield's release, it was marketed as a game with "a thousand planets," indicating that a significant portion of the content is generated procedurally. Individual worlds have elements created by the developers (according to pre-release assurances: more than Fallout 4 and Skyrim) and you can find many different attractions there. However, the case of the extremely flat Earth clearly showed that in practice Starfield's worlds are often poorer than we might expect.
Apparently, Bethesda wants to put more effort into the new planet. As announced, in terms of content Shattered Space is to be comparable to Fallout 4: Far Harbor expansion. This DLC offered between 7 and over 20 hours of entertainment, depending on whether the player concentrated solely on the main storyline or on uncovering all the expansion's secrets (via HowLongtoBeat).
Bethesda regrets abandoning Skyrim and Fallout
Regarding the next expansion after Shattered Space, Howard didn't reveal anything specific. However, he mentioned that Bethesda wants to continue developing Starfield for as long as possible and release additional expansions. This doesn't mean that the developer intends to tie up all the loose ends left in the base game. For now, the devs are focusing on Shattered Space, but they are planning at least one more similar expansion (which was announced a year ago and apparently these plans haven't been abandoned).
According to Howard, the creators regret that they didn't decide to support Skyrim longer (apart from small updates and releases for subsequent platforms, including refrigerators) and Fallout 4. This aspect significantly influenced the development of Fallout 76 - the developer aimed to continue evolving the game "for as long as possible," gradually improving it "from month to month." The Elder Scrolls 6 is also intended to be a "long-term" project, although Howard didn't give any details on this.
The dev also suggested that the gap between Starfield updates will be "larger" than the promised 6 weeks. This is partly the result of work on Shattered Space, which absorbs the team's attention, but also of plans for further development of the game in the "second year." Recently, the developers released the largest Starfield update to date, although it was not without problems.
Bethesda isn't in a hurry with Fallout and The Elder Scrolls 6
In addition to the future of Starfield, Todd Howard was also asked about plans for other Bethesda brands. It's no secret that the TV series Fallout has reignited interest in the post-apocalyptic series, and The Elder Scrolls VI still only has a modest teaser trailer. We know that the developers themselves don't want to make fans wait too long for new installments of both series.
However, Bethesda's head, although he once again emphasized the historically great popularity of the post-apocalyptic series, sees no reason to rush too much into releasing the new installment of Fallout. According to him, the Amazon series is currently meeting the brand's "narrative niche," and creating a large single-player game requires a lot of time, which the studio is currently dedicating to the development of Starfield and Fallout 76.
For other Fallout, obviously I can't talk about those right now, but I would say rushing through them. Right now, the Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling.
We totally get the desire for a new mainline single-player game [from the Fallout series], and look, those things take time and I don't think it's bad for people to miss things as well. So, we just want to get it right and make sure that everything we're doing in a franchise — whether it's Elder Scrolls or Fallout or now Starfield -- that those become meaningful moments for everybody who loves these franchises as much as we do.
So it looks like we'll have to wait for news about the future of Fallout (except 76) and The Elder Scrolls VI. This second title only left the pre-production stage in August 2023, and we still have to wait "several years" for the game's premiere.
