On the cusp of Starfield's Early Access launch, an atmosphere of excitement, expectation, and retrospective musing has engulfed not just gamers but also the creators behind the upcoming open world space opera RPG. Todd Howard, long-time helmsman steering the Bethesda ship, extended warm and heartfelt congratulations to the development team as well as Xbox and Bethesda, in an internal memo that was later publicized, courtesy of Windows Central. This comes as no surprise given that Starfield is a brainchild of Howard, a project that has been a "holy grail idea" for him and his seasoned team who have been with the company for decades.
The significance of Starfield cannot be overstated. It's Bethesda's first new intellectual property in nearly 30 years and represents the first major game launched under the aegis of the Bethesda-Xbox union. This game promises to combine the studio's long-term ambition with its insane creative potential, offering hundreds of explorable star systems set in the Milky Way and likely clocking dozens upon dozens of hours of gameplay. These elements form a part of Bethesda's robust legacy that includes blockbusters like Skyrim, Fallout 3 and 4, each a pinnacle of expansive world-building and player freedom.
Interestingly, the road to Starfield was not without its bumps. When Todd Howard initially pitched the game to the late ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman back in 2013, the proposal was audacious. It was to be a "grand space RPG," an enormous undertaking that would be Bethesda's first new IP in, not just years, but decades. Altman's reaction? Sounds fantastic." The fact that Lynda Carter, the original Wonder Woman, who has lent her voice to Bethesda games ever since The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and was Altman's wife, had a soft presence in these games adds a layer of familial warmth to the studio's lineage.
