Skyrim designer says Starfield’s biggest problem was being a Bethesda game

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Bruce Nesmith, who used to be the lead designer on Skyrim, thinks Bethesda’s reputation might actually be hurting Starfield. He suggests the game would have gotten a much better reception if it had come from a less well-known developer.

In a recent interview with Press Box PR, Nesmith explained that the hype surrounding Bethesda games is so high now that even well-received titles are constantly measured against the studio’s previous successes.

Although the sci-fi role-playing game sold well and received mostly positive reviews, the author believes its success wasn’t necessarily due to the game’s quality, but rather the reputation of its creators.

Hype hurts Bethesda games says Skyrim dev

Bethesda is facing a tough situation because expectations for their games are incredibly high—so high, in fact, that they’re nearly impossible to satisfy. A skilled marketing team’s primary job is to manage those expectations, and that’s what Bethesda needs to focus on, according to one observer.

Let’s consider Starfield. If a smaller, less well-known studio had released it, it likely would have been hailed as a groundbreaking game. However, because it came from Bethesda, a company with a strong reputation, expectations were incredibly high, and it was judged more critically.

Even though opinions on Starfield are varied, Nesmith believes it’s a solid game. He explained, “It’s a really good game, but it didn’t quite meet people’s expectations.”

The same high expectations now face upcoming games like The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5. However, according to Nesmith, Bethesda’s past successes suggest they have a good opportunity to deliver.

With Elder Scrolls 6, the developers face similar challenges, but they also benefit from their experience with previous games in the series – Elder Scrolls 5, 4, 3, and 2. Because of this experience, I believe they have a good chance of delivering a game that players will enjoy.

He reminded everyone that the studio had successfully launched projects under similar pressure in the past, using those launches as evidence they could do it again.

Following the success of Oblivion, Skyrim really delivered, even surpassing what people hoped for. The same happened with Fallout 4 after Fallout 3 – the studio lived up to the hype. They clearly have the ability to create great games, but like Nate Purkeypile said, they’ve got a lot of challenging work ahead of them.

Although Bethesda hasn’t announced when Elder Scrolls 6 will be released, a source familiar with the project says it likely won’t be available until 2028.

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2026-02-02 19:50