Bethesda’s tough luck with Starfield continues as the game has once again come under scrutiny. The flurry of criticism came after Bethesda introduced a new mission to Starfield, which cost $7. The negative reviews have piled up so much that Bethesda’s executive producer, Todd Howard, has come ahead and made a statement acknowledging their mistake.
Of course, there is no defending the decision to add essentially a single mission for $7. Todd Howard has acknowledged that Bethesda has screwed up and promised to fix the situation. However, this hasn’t stopped fans from comparing this scenario to Oblivion and Skyrim debacles that happened years ago.
Todd Howard Comes Forward to Address Starfield Controversy
Although the Shattered Space DLC showcase managed to garner some attention for Starfield, the addition of the new mission in the recent update brought the excitement level back to square one. The update included the addition of the Starfield Creation Kit, which comes with a mission allowing players to partake in Trackers Alliance quests.
The problem arises in the second part of the Tracker Alliance quests, termed The Vulture. This is because it is only available. as purchasable content, and players need to shell out 700 Starfield Creation Credits to buy it (roughly $7). What’s even more frustrating is that you’ll need to spend $10, as that’s the minimum amount you can buy to get access to the mission.
To no one’s surprise, Todd Howard had to come forward and accept that this was a bad move on Bethesda’s end. In an interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, the executive producer stated they are open to feedback.
We need to evaluate both pricing, what we put out for free, how we communicate what’s in something, and really hear from the community there.
It’s worth noting that more Tracker Alliance quests are promised to be added to the game in the future. However, fans are already skeptical about them because they may entail microtransactions as well.
Bethesda Is Yet To Learn From The Mistakes It Made With Skyrim and Oblivion
Unfortunately, Starfield’s paid expansion isn’t the first time Bethesda has added content to one of their games that felt like a cash grab. Oblivion and Skyrim already had their own issues with paid content, and Starfield’s expansion has only brought these past controversies back into the spotlight.
Back in 2015, Bethesda introduced a new system to Skyrim that allowed paid mods in the game. However, this decision was heavily criticized as, initially, the mod sellers only got 25% of the amount, with the rest going to Bethesda. As expected, this didn’t go well with the community, and the system was removed from the game within days of launching.
The Horse Armor DLC for Oblivion is another instance where armor was added for the player’s horse in the game, which had no significant gameplay impact beyond aesthetics. Bethesda priced it at $2.50, which many players felt was too high for such a minor addition, especially in 2006.
Do you think it’s worth buying Starfield’s new expansion? What do you think is next in line for Starfield? Let us know in the comments below.
