Starfield Could Save Bethesda and Xbox's 2023

[@konstantinavalentina3850]

Most of us aren't playing Bethesda games for the stunning, real-world accurate mind-blowing detailed graphics. In fact, we kind of expect everyone to look potato in Bethesda games. We play the games for the quests, the stories, the exploration, and everything else. We also play the game for all the creativity offered by the modding community. The modding potential for Starfield is insane. Whole Planets! Also, the 1000 planets thing? No one is forcing anyone else to explore every single planet. No one is forcing any player to do anything they don't want in the game. Other than the introductory game on rails orientation stuff, the prisoner on cart and escape from Helgen equivalent in Starfield, no one is forcing anyone to follow the main quest, or any quest. Go trap alien animals, and build an alien space zoo, and spend 1000 hours making that your mission in life. Steal the shoes off every NPC in the game and build a little hill with a throne made out of shoes at the top. No one needs to visit 1000 planets if they don't want to. Do what the game lets you do, not what it tries to tell you to do. If it wants you to build a settlement and you don't want that, then don't build the stupid settlement. It's your game. Make it what you want. That's what Bethesda games are about ... telling the story YOU want. There's all the written quests, side quests, and every other piece of playground equipment they give you in thier big sandboxes, but, it's up to the player to decide how they want to use them, if at all. I'm excited for Starfield. Those of us with computers that can do it will have the 8k textures and jaw dropping realism through the help of the modding community, because Bethesda games CAN do that, but, it requires a pricey PC made out of unicorns, rainbows, and fairy dust. You get what you pay for and if one locks themselves in console jail, then ya gonna get console jail limitations. Bethesda games, however aren't really about those crazy graphics, or FPS realism combat ... or, any other one single thing. Traditional Bethesda games are about bringing a fantastic number of complicated moving parts together, handing it to you the player, and letting you decide your own experience, because these arent' really games, but ... experiences, and like Skyrim, some of us will probably play Starfield on and off for a decade. It's not many other games developers making games what get played for a decade. :)

[@Yeags]

Well put. I agree and I’m excited too, but I think there’s a line if the frame rate is struggling to hit 30 and the bugs are abhorrent, Fallout 76 quality or even worse. If it can handle a consistent 30FPS with a normal amount of Bethesda jank, it’ll be a great game. I just don’t want to see them Cyberpunk themselves and get a bunch of really bad press

[@domrello21]

can’t wait for more content! Tell your friends everyone this guy is good

[@shadowminor]

For me, they don't need to be saved. I have enjoyed every game from Bethesda I have played.

[@timothydawkins1878]

Probably not going to pre order due to fallout 76 and bugs. A little worried about the actual explorability of 1000 planets. But it definitely looks interesting!

[@Yeags]

Luckily it’ll be on Gamepass day one so you’ll be able to try it for cheap when it comes out. But yeah, I definitely wouldn’t preorder!

[@hdviews6593]

Yeah I was really worried about to 1000 planet system. Seems like too much to go through that could take months and years to finish

[@tronam]

Save? From what? Xbox is already in their strongest position since the 360 era, regardless of Starfield, and 2021 was their highest revenue year in Xbox history (2020 was the previous). They’re also owned by one of the wealthiest companies in the world with 5x as many first party studios as the previous generation. This narrative of a “struggling Xbox” perpetuated by click hungry gaming news sites and KZbinrs is funny.

[@THISISLolesh]

Right, sometimes I wonder what planet people are on

[@Yeags]

Microsoft and Xbox will be fine even if Starfield completely flops, so yes, they don’t need the game to “save” them in the sense of “Starfield needs to be good or we’re no longer going to have a company”. And yes, Xbox is in a great position right now due largely to GamePass and the Series S being a nice cheaper next gen option. “Save” in this instance referred to Xbox’s first party exclusives games, and more specifically the lack of massive system-seller exclusive games on Xbox over the last year and going into next year. Forza Horizon 5 was great and Halo Infinite had a lot of players at launch, but Infinite has now fallen off and the Forza games are big but not THAT popular. With Sony releasing God of War Ragnorok in November, Nintendo has a new Pokémon game coming out and Breath of the Wild 2 next year - Xbox of course has some other stuff like Redfall but I think they could really use a huge exclusive like Starfield to improve their position in the industry even further.

[@ktdagoat1289]

@@Yeags Not disagreeing with you but Avowed, Fable, Perfect Dark, Indiana Jones, Project Midnight from Compulsion Games, Hellblade 2, Contraband, Everwild, The outer worlds 2.. Im just naming games supposed to be out by XGS cause we don't really know what Bethesdas doing with like Arkane Lyon, ID, Human Head, Tango Game works, and whatever game Zenimax online admitted they've already been working on.. This also isn't including ACTI Blizz games when they come because besides COD I don't think Xbox will keep they're games cross plat.. Starfield isn't the only big one for Xbox I'd say Fable, Avowed, and Hellblade all have same or maybe more hype than Starfield.. They'll be good with or without starfield BUT... I also bet this will be Bethesdas best game fan reception and sell wise cause itll be Bethesdas least buggy release ever..

[@Yeags]

@@ktdagoat1289 all those games you mentioned have the potential to be awesome. But I’d still say that they’re not system-sellers in the way a brand new huge Bethesda game could be. The fable & hellblade franchises have dedicated fanbases and so does Obsidian as a studio, but if we’re talking about just pure sales numbers and financial potential, Fable, Hellblade, or any of the others aren’t gonna be able to touch a new Bethesda game (if it’s good). Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed could maybe get there, but it could still be a while before either of those come out and it’s not like the original Outer Worlds sold that crazy well (4 million copies as of August 2021, even tho it’s great and I love it). I have love for all these franchises that are a little smaller, but unfortunately I don’t think they have big enough fanbases to convince millions of people who aren’t already in the Xbox ecosystem to join it. I hope they prove me wrong, I just don’t see it

[@ktdagoat1289]

@@Yeags I understand cause imo only Rockstar and Bethesda are the teams that make 10 year games... But Obsidian is in most fans opinion the "Natural Successors" for the Bethesda Western RPG lords.. Yeah 4m copies doesn't sound to heavy but when you realize they had a budget of about 20m... It's quite the success.. Now they are making big games with larger budgets than usual.. Avowed is looking like the only competitors for TES and due to it coming some time before TES 6 I believe it'll do much better than we expect.. Hellblade 1 was made by 20 people and sold around 3m copies, Fable is a VERY loved IP but Playground games is also one of those studios with a fanbase of thier own and I'm sure alot of Forza only players will buy Fable just wanting to see playgrounds work.. I'll give Xbox credit all purchases minus Compulsion (And I'm not saying they're bad honestly man they're just like the youngest member in the house Targarian lol like they have all hype and potential but nobody knows yet but I personally think these guys are about to become something on par with a ND or SSM) were smart because the studios they bought have really good fan bases... Guaranteeing around a couple mill sales at worst while now having marketing out the wazoo.. It's not a lock but I'm confident in those studios BEFORE Xbox bought them and the fact they ALL say Xbox doesn't interfere just basically hears what THEY want to do, bankroll the project then give them time.. I'm sure we'll see more than a few major hits.. Will any be played for 10 years??? Idk.. Lol shoot I'm playing SOD 2 STILL 5 years after release and it's not the biggest hit but I'm sure there's gonna be some game changers here.. Hellblade 2, Avowed and honestly The Compulsion game I expect to be pretty big hits and Avowed to be a 10 year TES competitor..