Starfield developer Bethesda hasn’t always been best pleased with the reception its new huge game received, feeling it was unfairly judged in some corners, especially the ones comparing it to Game of the Year Baldur’s Gate 3.

Truth is, Starfield is not a bad game by any stretch. It is a huge achievement, it’s just that it can be a bit, well boring at times. Having spent such a long time in the making, and hype building for the duration of that, there were always sections of the judgemental internet that would pile on.

It’s always been a thought that Starfield would be one of those games that would get better with age, and Bethesda’s roadmap suggests the coming year could get gamers closer to the Starfield they demanded from the get-go.

A Starfield end-of-year update on the Bethesda site says. “We’re targeting updates roughly every six weeks starting in February. These updates will include everything from quality-of-life improvements to content and feature updates. Join our Steam Beta branch to be the first to try these updates as they begin rolling out.”

With many players on Game Pass, it seems that Bethesda will be rolling out some of these changes to actual paying customers first if the above is accurate. Game Pass does not allow players to opt in to any other versions of the game besides the main one, so while understandable, it may be frustrating for the majority of players.

It is also unclear how the much-vaunted forthcoming mod support – we now know to be called Creations, will work for Game Pass players. Starfield with mod support is, however, an extremely exciting prospect.

Bethesda also produced a graphic showing that the game has had some 13 million players since its launch who have visited almost 2 billion planets and spent over 26 million hours building their own ships.

Starfield remains a game with tremendous long-term potential and 2024 will be an exciting one for those invested in it.

Paul McNally

Gaming Editor

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media. Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. He is obsessed with 3D printing and has worked with several major brands in the past to create content Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Paul’s ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm. Reach out on X.