Starfield Game Director Confirms Official Mod Support for Next Year

Todd Howard says that Starfield will get official mod support sometime next year.

By Ricky Frech

Starfield has proven to be one of the most popular games of the year, even if it wasn't able to become the all-encompassing space RPG fans were hoping for. Perhaps expectations were too lofty, but developer Bethesda has always been able to rely on its players to add many of the things the fanbase wants. While we might never see fully controlled space flight between systems, the fans will undoubtedly find ways to unlock Starfield's potential. Just look at how many mods The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has on NexusMods if you want an idea of how committed Bethesda fans are. Fortunately, those modders recently got very good news because game director Todd Howard has confirmed that official mod support is coming next year.

The news comes from an interview Howard did with Famitsu. That interview was posted to Famitsu's site in Japanese, but using machine translating allows us to at least capture the highlights of what Howard spoke about. Essentially, he said that mods allow players to add just about anything they desire in Bethesda games, and Starfield will be no different. Howard then mentioned that official mod support is coming at some point next year. He didn't give an exact date, but Bethesda followed a similar path with Fallout 4's mod support, so we'll likely see mod support around next summer.

Of course, it's no surprise that Starfield is getting mod support. Bethesda games have had one of the most robust modding communities for the last few decades, so the team was always going to bring it eventually. We've also already seen Starfield fly up the list of mod downloads on NexusMods, passing one million downloads before it was even officially out. Hopefully, the official support will bring even more mods to the game, opening things up even further for Starfield players.

What Mods Do Starfield Fans Want?

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As mentioned, players have several issues with Starfield that could be addressed by mods. While some likely won't be targets for mods because of scale (space travel being the most notable), many of them will have several modders trying to find a solution. Early on, the bulk of mods are focused on optimizing Starfield's technical issues, upgrading the graphics, or getting rid of annoyances (think lockpicking or inventory limits). 

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Once most of that becomes settled, we should start to see some more creative mods. One option that players have been floating is trying to find a way to add dogs or ground vehicles to the game. Bethesda's reasons for not having either make some sense, but players want them, and that's where mods can come in. We also may see modders try to expand on the list of romanceable NPCs. That was certainly popular in Skyrim, so it'll likely be a fan favorite here, too. Plus, Starfield only has a handful, and players always want more options. 

Starfield is available now on Xbox Series X/S and PC.

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