Bethesda Is Too Far Gone To Be Saved

We all know about Bethesda Game Studio.

They are the ones responsible for creating some of the most iconic video game franchises in the market, specifically Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and people love these games (myself included) so much that they are still hungry for more titles that expand on these universes.

However, when it comes to Bethesda’s latest IP, Starfield, the story is very different.

Ever since it launched, it has faced lots of criticism about the emptiness of its game world, how boring the story is, and the number of game-breaking bugs, and players have been very vocal about this. Yet it seems that Bethesda has fallen into the same trap as Ubisoft and has been ignoring player feedback for such a long time that it’s coming back to bite them in the ass.

If you don’t believe me, you can watch this video by Luke Stephens that shows some of the awful responses Bethesda employees gave to players who wrote negative reviews on Starfield’s Steam page.

Speak about being unprofessional.

Nevertheless, the reason I’m writing this post today is because of a recent article published by GamesRadar+ where they shared an interview with Emil Pagliarulo (Bethesda’s Studio Design Director) who kept hyping Starfield by saying how passionate the team working on it was and called it the “best game we’ve ever made”.

He says all that about Starfield despite it disappointing the players and he even dares to describe it as a title at the same level as Elder Scrolls and Fallout, which is kind of ironic since they tried to take elements of these games and integrate them into Starfield while taking away what makes those games amazing in the first place.

I’m talking about a rich open world filled with interesting characters, cool-looking places, fun side quests and gameplay, and a decision-making system that influenced the story based on the player’s actions.

Not to mention all the moments where you get into trouble because you were wandering around aimlessly and triggered an enemy way stronger than you.

These are all things that Starfield either doesn’t have or are just poorly implemented.

If there is one thing Bethesda kept successfully though, is the loading screens every time we go in or out of an area. It has become a stamp of their games at this point.

Also, saying that Starfield is a “technical marvel” implies that their engine is so bad and outdated that it should not have been possible for them to create it, which is not a good look for a multi-million dollar company.

And if that wasn’t enough, they also proudly expressed how good they are at making DLCs.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s something they should be happy about given how they are trying to sell mods in the Creation Club (their mod marketplace), and to buy them you first need to purchase the in-store currency to exchange it for whatever mod you want.

If you want more insight into this, I recommend checking this video from Bellular News:

What this means is that mods that are created and maintained by the community have become another way for Bethesda to squeeze money from players, and I’m not surprised in the slightest given how dependent they are on modders to keep their games alive.

I guarantee that if their games weren’t as easy to mod as they are, they wouldn’t be nearly as popular because while Skyrim and Fallout 4 would still be very fun, the modders pretty much break their backs to create content and fix problems Bethesda doesn’t seem to care enough to do it themselves.

A clear example of what modders are capable of doing is Fallout London.

This is a massive free Fallout 4 mod that pretty much changed the entire game into a completely new title that takes place in…well… London. It adds new enemies, mechanics, factions, and much more. They even hired professional voice actors to voice it.

You know that your community loves your games when they are willing to make a mod as big as this for free, which makes Bethesda’s blindness even more painful to watch.

Final Thoughts

Bethesda is so blinded with hubris and toxic positivity to see that their company needs to change in various ways. From an outdated engine that limits their potential to an unprofessional and rather offensive way to treat players who criticize them.

But most importantly, they have this horrible practice of depending on modders to fix their games for them, instead of doing it themselves.

I’ll be honest with you, after seeing everything that has been happening with Bethesda I am extremely worried about the future of the next Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. One thing is certain though, I won’t preorder anything they make or buy any of their “special editions” until I’m certain it won’t be another “Starfield”.

Anyway, that’s all for now.