There were a number of high-profile no-shows from the Xbox Games Showcase. State of Decay 3, for example, failed to turn up. The Perfect Dark reboot was conspicuous by its absence. But perhaps Starfield’s ongoing M.I.A. status hurts the most — at least for long-suffering fans of the game.
The Starfield community had hoped Bethesda would announce something to do with the game at its Xbox Games Showcase, but while The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 both getting their moment in the spotlight, Starfield skipped proceedings entirely. No DLC, no expansion, no PlayStation 5 release… nothing.
It’s fair to say the Starfield community is starting to lose hope and a good deal of faith in Bethesda, whose silence around the game has been deafening.
“I had so much hope for today’s Xbox show, but no,” said acatato on the Starfield subreddit. “After so much time of silence (let’s not talk about small update) the game looks so dead now, it’s sad.”
“What a complete disappointment,” added totallynormalpersonz. “What a joke the only thing we ever hear from Bethesda about this game nowadays is stuff off the Creation Club. The Xbox showcase would have been the perfect time to show off something new for this game. Unfortunately Bethesda doesn’t seem to care. Wouldn’t surprise me if Bethesda has abandoned this game and are hoping the community will make content for them. This does not bode well for future Bethesda game studio projects.”
“Bethesda makes it so hard to defend this game,” said TheVossDoss. “I love Starfield. 1,100 hours in. If it weren’t for mods, I’d given up long ago. Knowing that Bethesda will never read this, I’m nonetheless speaking directly to you — shame on you for keeping your loyal fans in the dark, and for throwing in the towel. If you decided to give up on this game and move on, fine, but let us know so we’re not holding on to hope. I cannot believe Starfield was a complete no-show today. Thank you to all the modders out there who have kept the game on life support. I fear, though, we’re getting dangerously close to the heart monitor flatlining.”
Clearly, fans just want some sort of communication from Bethesda on the future of the game. If it’s left it behind, they’d like to know. If the promised second expansion is coming, they’d like to know. If Starfield is coming to other platforms, they’d like to know.
Comments from Starfield fans are now spilling over into social media posts from Bethesda Game Studios about unrelated matters. Take, for example, this post about a Fallout 76 interview at Summer Game Fest. The replies include questions about Starfield’s status, including “Why did you guys abandon starfield?”, “Have you guys abandoned Starfield?”, “I’m uninstalling Starfield…. I’m tired of waiting,” and “RIP Starfield.” You get the idea.
Amid the growing disappointment are some within the community who are pointing out that Bethesda may shadow-drop a Starfield expansion and a PS5 release. It enjoyed huge success with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which it shadow-dropped in April to the tune of over 4 million players. Perhaps this is the new way forward for Bethesda. And if that’s the case, then perhaps some sort of Starfield update could be around the corner.
Whatever the case, the Starfield community is left sifting through previous statements from Bethesda as they look for a glimmer of hope. Starfield launched in September 2023 as Bethesda’s first brand new IP in 25 years, but it was not as well received as the studio’s previous games in the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises, and the Shattered Space expansion, released a year later in September 2024, has a ‘mostly negative’ user review rating on Steam.
Starfield went on to reach 15 million players, but the question of whether Bethesda might walk away from the game to focus on its other franchises has been a running theme since release. In June 2024, Bethesda insisted it remained committed to supporting Starfield, and confirmed at least one other story expansion would release following Shattered Space. And in an interview with YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard said the developer was aiming to release an annual story expansion for “hopefully a very long time.”
The wait to find out if all that still stands goes on.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
