Why I'm Glad Starfield Got Delayed

Why I'm Glad Starfield Got Delayed

By  Luz Victoria - 3rd Jun 2022

And why you should be too.

Why I'm Glad Starfield Got Delayed

Honestly, when I heard that Starfield had been delayed, I wasn't shocked; more than that, however, I wasn't disappointed.

It isn't that I'm not excited for the game, either, as I can't wait for the title to release. Not only am I excited to explore a new solar system from the minds behind Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, but I am also eager to watch my wife do the same; she and I love playing Bethesda titles together and exploring the worlds. So naturally, I can't wait for the game to release.

But I'm glad that the game got delayed because I don't want to see it suffer what many other titles before it have. I wasn't excited for Cyberpunk 2077, and despite seeing the train wreck coming from a mile away, I was still somehow disappointed. I felt horrible for those that were excited about it, and I learned a very valuable lesson that day: never complain about delays.

Sure, I never really minded when games would get delayed; quite frankly, I didn't much care when they were, but every once in a while I'd experience the same frustration every other gamer feels with delays. I get it, we're all very excited for the game to release, and we can't wait to get our hands on it; we get frustrated purely due to our excitement. In fact, the last time I remember getting disappointed at a delay was with none other than ELDEN RING, and that was a very minor delay in comparison to some others.

Despite sympathising with the feeling of disappointment, I was quite shocked to see that players were complaining about Starfield's delay, as I thought we'd all come to a mutual agreement. People took to Twitter to question Phil Spencer's leadership, complain about the delay, and demand a release date be set. In one particularly mean tweet, Phil Spencer is photoshopped with a long nose with the following caption:

"Phil Spencer - The only man on earth that can buy more studios and have less games. The guy is totally incompetent."

Even some personal friends, whom I know are loyal Xbox Studios fans, took to being demeaning towards the company because it won't be receiving any first-party games this year. And although I get the frustration, I can't sympathise with the reasoning behind it.

After Cyberpunk 2077, I wondered if we'd learned our lesson and we'd let developers take their time with games, and Starfield's recent outrage proved me wrong. As a community, I feel that we gamers have to do better, because it feels like time and again we condemn developers for anything they do, and never give them a win condition.

If a game gets delayed after having a set release date, we condemn them for taking too long to develop their true vision of the title, much like we saw with Starfield. Likewise, if a game refuses to announce a release date, we condemn them for being a hype machine that will "never come out", much like Hytale. When developers release an unfinished product on the release date, we condemn them for releasing an "early access" build, like Cyberpunk 2077. And when employees are crunched to ensure the quality set for the release date, we condemn them for that too, like LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending crunching in the slightest, but I've come to wonder if it is even done out of malice, rather than sheer fear of retaliation from the gaming community. And time and again, it feels like we condemn developers, not letting them handle the title and release the game they envisioned it to be, and that breaks my heart.

While you wait for Starfield you can add it to your Fanatical wishlist here.



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