When Bethesda teased us (and we do mean teased us) with that small little sneak peek at The Elder Scrolls VI as well as Starfield, they were very clear that neither title was “coming soon.” Though they haven’t been shy at discussing why, Bethesda’s VP Pete Hines is back once more to offer a little more clarity.
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Speaking with our sister site GameSpot over the past week at PAX Australia, the Bethesda exec opened up about what they could have done versus what they did.
“Would it have been better if it was some years from now and we just go, ‘Surprise, we’re making a game called Starfield, and it’s out X months later?’ Yeah. For sure,” admitted Hines. “But at the same time, there is also value in every day between there people aren’t freaking out about us making Fallout 76 as an online-only game as a service and this is all they’re ever making.”
He added, “I try really hard to manage people’s expectations. It’s not like ‘Fallout 76 this year, Starfield next year, and then TES6 the year after.’ The timeline isn’t any different. What’s different is just trying to be transparent and say, ‘Don’t freak out, the next thing we’re doing is single-player [in Starfield], [and] we are making TES6.”
This echoes what both he and Todd Howard have said in the past of that it wasn’t about teasing, it was about reassuring. When Fallout 76 was announced to be an online-only game, many fans of the studio were worried that this meant “the end” of their single-player promise. That couldn’t be further from the truth and that’s the reason they decided to reveal these projects so early to show that this spin-off Fallout title doesn’t mark a change in direction and that they are busy working on numerous projects at once to deliver what fans want most.
Bethesda has more than proven over the years that they for the fans, one hundred percent. With the first Fallout 76 B.E.T.A now wrapped, more and more people are starting to share their excitement about ‘maybe there wasn’t a reason to be worried afterall.’
Regardless, this team knows how to deliver a powerful gaming experience and if that means having to reassure the fans that they aren’t being abandoned, the team is going to do just that.
