Following Bethesda’s showcase of Starfield, from the ship customization and combat to the procedural worlds and character creation, there’s a lot of hype. There’s also a concern because its titles are known for launching with major issues. However, according to Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, Starfield already has the “fewest bugs of any Bethesda game ever shipped.”
Speaking to Giant Bomb (transcription by VGC), Booty said, “We have an awful lot of people internally playing Starfield, working with Todd and the team. I see bug counts, and just by the numbers if it shipped today, Starfield would already have the fewest bugs of any Bethesda game ever shipped.” Which is nice, but again, the day-one experience will always differ.
As for Bethesda, Booty added, “The team has matured. They’ve got Fallouts and Skyrims and Elder Scrolls under their belt. When the acquisition closed, this game had a significantly earlier ship date, earlier than the date we had first set for Starfield. We sat down with Todd and the team and explained we wanted to give them the time.”
“I think Matt said we have every QA person in our entire company playing Starfield right now,” said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. “Looking at bug counts, looking at the quality of where we are. The nice thing about what we showed today, from my perspective, is that was the game. We’ve been playing the game for quite a while, and that’s the game.”
Starfield launches on September 6th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, with the Premium Edition granting early access on September 1st and the first story expansion, Shattered Space, whenever it goes live. Director Todd Howard recently confirmed it’s locked to 30 FPS on Xbox Series X/S for consistency. As for the PC requirements, they’re not too crazy, though you’ll need a solid-state drive and 125 GB of free installation space. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.
