Exclusive: Todd Howard Reveals the Game-Changing Impact of COVID on Starfield Development
Bethesda's highly anticipated game, Starfield, faced significant delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to remote work Todd Howard reveals the challenges faced by the development team, as numerous plans for the game had to be scrapped
Starfield game director Todd Howard discussed the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the development of the sci-fi RPG. In an interview with The Washington Post, Howard revealed that the shift to a work-from-home setup in early 2020 resulted in a significant slowdown in production for Starfield.
The development team not only worked on crafting the game itself but also on developing new technology to support it. Originally planned for a November 2022 release, Starfield was ultimately delayed to September 2023. Howard explained that when the team initially selected the November 2022 date, they built in a substantial buffer to account for potential setbacks.
Howard admitted that they had miscalculated the timing during the progress of the game, leading to a significant delay. He expressed that even a small percentage of deviation had a major impact due to the immense scale of the project. The decision to postpone the release until September 2023 was made in order to allocate the necessary time for development.
Additionally, Howard revealed that certain content, such as a recreation of the post-apocalyptic wasteland from Fallout 3 set in Washington D.C., did not make it into the final version of Starfield. He mentioned that they had discussions about including it but ultimately decided against it.
According to the report, Bethesda had numerous plans for Starfield that didn't make it into the final product. Howard acknowledged that their initial plans had to be scrapped as they had to rewrite certain parts of the engine. They began developing technology for the game's planetary and outer space features using their previous engine and renderer.
Starfield had a successful start, attracting 1 million concurrent players on launch day and a total of 6 million players as of September 7. This is just the beginning for Starfield, as Bethesda intends to provide ongoing support for the game, including releasing at least one expansion called Shattered Space in the future.
Starfield has been released for Xbox, PC, iPhone, and Android via streaming. Players have uncovered that engaging in daily intimacy is an effective method for leveling up, as well as discovering techniques to generate endless currency. Additionally, remarkable potato physics have been unveiled in Starfield.
