Bethesda's space exploration RPG Starfield arrived in September 2023 to decidedly mixed fortunes. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for its open world, setting, and soundtrack, though its story and exploration were divisive. Player enthusiasm, however, proved more muted; Starfield, with a 24-hour peak concurrent player count of 3,827 at the time of writing, has considerably fewer players than both Fallout 4 and Skyrim, which have 24-hour peaks of 36,062 and 30,021, respectively.
Yet Inon Zur, the Emmy-winning composer who scored both the main game and its debut expansion, argues that the title's reception reflects poor timing rather than poor execution. In remarks to RPGsite, Zur characterised Starfield as a victim of expectation mismatch. Inon Zur is an Israeli-born American composer of soundtracks for film, television, and video games who has composed soundtracks for over 80 video games, which include Dragon Age, EverQuest, Fallout, Prince of Persia, Star Trek, the Syberia series, and Starfield.
Zur painted a portrait of Todd Howard as a visionary who refuses to bend to immediate market pressure. "When Starfield released, I believe people were just not ready for it," Zur said. "It's a different way of looking at it, but Todd is really strong, and he said very, very lightly, 'Look, if you don't like it, then you don't like it, but this is the new thing that we're doing, and we're sticking to it.'" Zur argues that Howard's track record justifies faith in his judgment, suggesting that time will vindicate what players initially rejected.
Bethesda released Shattered Space, the title's first downloadable content, on September 30, 2024. However, Shattered Space was released on September 30, 2024, for Windows and Xbox Series X/S to mixed critical reviews and negative user reception. The expansion centred on House Va'ruun lore but failed to move the needle significantly.
Nevertheless, Howard maintains the company is committed to the game's future. In recent interviews, he acknowledged that the next update "is not Starfield 2.0," and warned that if you don't like the game now, that's probably not going to change. Rather than attempt a wholesale overhaul, he described the next release as "not Starfield 2.0," and positioned it as a set of updates that "change the game" in a broader, "meta" way, including new ways of using space.
The modest scope of upcoming changes reflects hard strategic choices facing Bethesda. He referred to Fallout 76 and Starfield as "creative detours," signaling that The Elder Scrolls 6 is a return to the "classic" BGS style seen in Skyrim and Oblivion. With The Elder Scrolls 6 now the studio's primary focus, Starfield is being treated as a long-term content project rather than a candidate for radical reimagining.
Zur predicts this measured commitment will pay dividends. Starfield is the first new intellectual property developed by Bethesda in 25 years. Comparing the situation to other celebrated creatives who faced initial scepticism, Zur insisted that Howard's vision will eventually earn its place in gaming's pantheon. "Starfield will eventually become something that will be legendary," he said. "I have no doubt. It's just a matter of time."
Whether players who bounced off the base game will ever return remains unclear. But Zur's faith in Howard's judgment, grounded in two decades of close collaboration, at least provides one principled argument for patience.