Bethesda’s latest hit, Starfield, has continued its impressive growth, surpassing 14 million players since its launch. In a recent interview with popular YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Bethesda’s Todd Howard shared exciting updates about the game and its future expansions.
Howard revealed that Starfield’s player base had grown by another million since the last update in December 2023, when the game had 13 million players. He noted that the average playtime remains over 40 hours per player, reflecting the game’s deep and engaging content. “We now have three big franchises,” Howard stated. “Starfield has 14 million players, and the average playtime is still over 40 hours a player. It’s just a staggering amount of time in-game.”
The interview then shifted focus to Shattered Space, the first Starfield DLC set for release later this year. Howard described Shattered Space as an ‘annual story expansion’ that is comparable in size to Fallout 4’s Far Harbor, which took about 15 hours to complete. The DLC will primarily take place on a single planet, offering the seamless exploration that Bethesda games are renowned for.
Howard emphasized the unique approach to the DLC’s setting: “Something we had planned for, and one of the things that – I mean, it’s great to everybody react to the trailer and the mood that we’re trying to put out there, but one of the things that we always liked about it from the get-go and I don’t think people realize is that Shattered Space, the bulk of that expansion pack, once you get to the city and the planet, it pretty much takes place there.”
This design choice allows Bethesda to create a detailed landscape and urban environment filled with quests and story content. “It allows us to build a landscape like we would traditionally do and have the city and the quests,” Howard explained. “That story takes place there, and the landscape, content-wise, we’re looking at kind of like what we did with Far Harbor on Fallout 4. This is a scope that works for our development in doing this kind of annual story expansion type.”
Howard’s enthusiasm for Shattered Space is evident as he discusses the possibilities it brings to Starfield. The DLC will provide a new kind of alien world for players to explore while retaining the essence of what makes Starfield unique. “Really excited about that and it lets us kind of do some things the way we would in previous games and give people not completely that experience because it’s still Starfield, but this new kind of alien world that you’re able to explore and it takes place there,” he said.
MrMattyPlays inquired whether the focus on a single planet was a response to community feedback about the game’s exploration mechanics. Howard acknowledged that while player feedback is valuable, the decision was primarily driven by Bethesda’s vision for the game. “When we were making Starfield, we struggled with how to make exploration fun on big, barren planets,” he admitted. “We felt good with where we landed, knowing that it was not going to scratch the same itch for a lot of people that you would when you have a more bespoke landscape that you’re exploring.”
Howard explained that the team’s desire to create a more focused and thematic environment was a key factor in their approach to Shattered Space. “We wanted to build something like that and felt that this was the right way to go about it with something that had its own theme and tone that we could put you on a planet,” he said. “One of the benefits of Starfield and its scope is it allows something like that within it while feeling natural, so it was our own reaction that we had as well.”
Looking ahead, Howard confirmed that annual story expansions are part of Bethesda’s plan for Starfield’s future. “I would say we want to, more or less. How long that continues, hopefully a very long time, but that’s what we’re planning for the one after this. So, there will be another one,” he stated.
With Starfield’s player base continuing to grow and the promise of exciting new content on the horizon, it’s clear that Bethesda’s latest franchise is set to remain a major player in the gaming world for years to come.
