An Inside Scoop on Starfield's Development

Former Design Director of Bethesda, Bruce Nesmith recently revealed a significant internal debate at the studio about the scope of the much-anticipated game, Starfield. Nesmith, who was also the lead designer of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, shared he initially suggested the space RPG contain nearly two dozen solar systems rather than an overwhelming hundred and twenty it concluded with.

"Repeating work is not additive," said Nesmith, explaining that once you build a single solar system, the subsequent work amount doesn't change significantly. He further added that the various elements like life forms, rocks, ice worlds, and crater worlds necessary for creating a single solar system already sets up the game for building the rest.

Though the idea of more than a thousand explorable planets was initially daunting, the game's exploration concept was gradually established. This took shape despite the fact that only 10% of Starfield's planets were planned to host life.

Nesmith stated Bethesda decided to keep a considerable number of planets as fans adore their large, open-world games. The expansive nature of Starfield technically led it to top the sales charts even before its official launch. When it finally launched on September 6, more than one million players were concurrently online, hitting ten million players in just three weeks.

Despite the internal debate and controversies, Starfield has successfully caught the audience's attention with its expansive role-playing quests and respectable combat. "Its gravitational pull is difficult to resist," IGN mentioned in their review.