Now that Starfield has officially failed, will Bethesda learn anything?

[Compass]

Review scores are still in freefall; Recent Reviews as "Mixed," and Overall are one percentage point away from being "Mixed."

This is a devastating indictment for such a high-profile game. The question, though, is, will Bethesda do anything different next time? Do they even have the talent to make anything better at this point?

[Seekrt]

Better question yet, will the players that feel trumped learn anything?

[Action Man]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and take the position the Bethesda/Microsoft execs and the shareholders don't give one tenth of one ♥♥♥♥ about Steam ratings. Or any other ratings for that matter.

For them, success is defined by how much money it makes.

[NTense]

Yes, they learned they can rehash the same game again with the same flaws, same inadequacies and same mediocrity, without paying for a new game engine and Bethesda fans will lap it up. Easy money. Next question.

[Seekrt]

Originally posted by Action Man:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and take the position the Bethesda/Microsoft execs and the shareholders don't give one tenth of one ♥♥♥♥ about Steam ratings. Or any other ratings for that matter.

For them, success is defined by how much money it makes.

Of course, but then when a studio stops generating sufficient revenue, it gets flushed. EA is renowned for this.

[PocketYoda]

6-7/10 is far from a failure..

[Action Man]

Originally posted by Seekrt:

Originally posted by Action Man:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and take the position the Bethesda/Microsoft execs and the shareholders don't give one tenth of one ♥♥♥♥ about Steam ratings. Or any other ratings for that matter.

For them, success is defined by how much money it makes.

Of course, but then when a studio stops generating sufficient revenue, it gets flushed. EA is renowned for this.

Right. And I would also say Microsoft execs/shareholders give zero ♥♥♥♥♥ for this either. Buy a studio, drain all the money out of it as you can, and let that studio just die. EA is renowned for this as well.

As long as they made money, that's all they care about.

[Gonzo850]

People will be calling this game a failure again when dlc comes out. And again when paid mods come out. And again when patches break mods. All the while the game will still be played by plenty of people and making plenty of money. The only thing that Bethesda will learn is to ignore the drama.

If you don't like a game just stay away. The worst thing that can happen to a game is that it gets ignored. If you really want to make it better then drop some feedback in their official forums.

[Scyris]

Originally posted by NTense:

Yes, they learned they can rehash the same game again with the same flaws, same inadequacies and same mediocrity, without paying for a new game engine and Bethesda fans will lap it up. Easy money. Next question.

Sad but true. I just hope Starfield doesn't somehow win Game of the year, as that really will set a bad example as it shows devs you can be lazy and half ass it and still get game of the year and make millions.

Also the game didn't fail, is it a poor game? yes, but it did make them a massive profit so from the eyes of the investors it was a huge success and that is the problem with gaming these days investors have too much say and pull. Videogames in the past were full of passion and drive, this has been lost in the last 20+ years and its now more about using the least amount of effort to make the maximium profit and Starfield is proof of this. If Starfield was by a lesser known company it would have done FAR FAR poorly, it only was as successful as it was due to it having Bethesda's name on it. Never underestimate the buying power of fanboys/girls. Bethesda has millions of fans from Elder scrolls and fallout, so naturally they going to blindly buy the next game they come out, which is exactly what happened here with Starfield. I'm a beth fan myself, but I at least was smart enough to try it on gamepass first as I was smart enough to be wary about it as it doesn't have the fallout or elderscrolls extensive world and lore to fall back on, it was totally new, and Bethesda failed pretty hard on that lore aspect. I've never been so unintersted in a games lore as I have Starfield and thats out of every game i've played, Starfield has some of the most unintersting lore i've ever seen in a game, and i've played a lot of games the last 30+ years.

[Bingy Bingy]

Originally posted by Seekrt:

Better question yet, will the players that feel trumped learn anything?

Don't pre-order or be suckered in by a big marketing campaign and you won't be so angry or feel betrayed when the product fails to fully live up to the hype.

This is how I ended up enjoying Fallout 4 a lot more than many other people. I deliberately waited 18 months until the hype had fully died, a DLC had released, survival mode included, multiple bug and QOL patches later, before I bought (on sale, no less) and played it. Was a MUCH better experience than if I had bought/played it on day 1.

[Scyris]

Originally posted by PocketYoda:

6-7/10 is far from a failure..

Even a 5/10 can be a enjoyable game for people. 5/10 is Average, 7/10 would be good, 9+ is great/excellent. I rate Starfield a 6/10 myself. slightly above average, but nothing really to call good or great. I deff wouldn't reccomend it to someone either over other games in the genre.

[Mav1122]

I like this game

[Seekrt]

Originally posted by Bingy Bingy:

Originally posted by Seekrt:

Better question yet, will the players that feel trumped learn anything?

Don't pre-order or be suckered in by a big marketing campaign and you won't be so angry or feel betrayed when the product fails to fully live up to the hype.

This is how I ended up enjoying Fallout 4 a lot more than many other people. I deliberately waited 18 months until the hype had fully died, a DLC had released, survival mode included, multiple bug and QOL patches later, before I bought (on sale, no less) and played it. Was a MUCH better experience than if I had bought/played it on day 1.

People will still preorder though.

[PocketYoda]

Originally posted by Scyris:

Originally posted by PocketYoda:

6-7/10 is far from a failure..

Even a 5/10 can be a enjoyable game for people. 5/10 is Average, 7/10 would be good, 9+ is great/excellent. I rate Starfield a 6/10 myself. slightly above average, but nothing really to call good or great. I deff wouldn't reccomend it to someone either over other games in the genre.

Agreed 1-3/10 is a failure.. 4/10 is pretty bad as well.

[Scyris]

Originally posted by Bingy Bingy:

Originally posted by Seekrt:

Better question yet, will the players that feel trumped learn anything?

Don't pre-order or be suckered in by a big marketing campaign and you won't be so angry or feel betrayed when the product fails to fully live up to the hype.

This is how I ended up enjoying Fallout 4 a lot more than many other people. I deliberately waited 18 months until the hype had fully died, a DLC had released, survival mode included, multiple bug and QOL patches later, before I bought (on sale, no less) and played it. Was a MUCH better experience than if I had bought/played it on day 1.

I bought fallout 4 on day 1 and loved it, I played for hundreds of hours even before mods were a thing. The problem is Starfield is so lackluster that without mods its just a terrible game. I've never gotten so bored in a beth creation engine game as fast as I did with starfield, as the game is lacking in basically every single aspect in a big way. Just glad I had a gamepass sub already so I didn't have to pay anything extra to try it, I was glad I was cautious. As if I spent 70 US for this I would have been very upset as it feels like its worth 20-30 at most. The fact it didn't have the extensive lore from fallout and elder scrolls alone made me wary as beth is not known for being good writiers. Lore in Starfield is, well boring and unintersting pretty much, I never really cared about the world or got immersed in it at like like I did with Fallout or Elder scrolls games. Also how did beth manage to copy fallout 4's combat yet somehow make it way less fun? its not just the lack of Vats, its more than that, as fallout 4 even if you didn't use vats it was still fun to fight stuff. But Starfield? I just found the combat boring in general.

[Starbug]

Originally posted by Compass:

Review scores are still in freefall; Recent Reviews as "Mixed," and Overall are one percentage point away from being "Mixed."

This is a devastating indictment for such a high-profile game. The question, though, is, will Bethesda do anything different next time? Do they even have the talent to make anything better at this point?

Would you describe yourself as a glass half-empty sort of person?