After news broke out on Oct 16. that Starfield’s lead quest designer William Shen is leaving Bethesda for Something Wicked Games, many players reacted with indifference, with claims that not much will improve with his departure.
Despite Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard becoming official, Shen’s departure, and reports of other leading figures resigning and switching companies, Starfield players on Reddit believe nothing will change since Emil Pagliarulo is still the studio design director at Bethesda. Some also speculated that disagreements over in-game Starfield content are what may have led to Shen’s departure.
Complaints over a safe approach when designing quests for new releases seem to be the most present, especially on main quests. Previous releases had creative freedom regarding side quests, including in Skyrim and Fallout, and at least one player praise Shen’s previous work on the Fallout 4 Far Harbor DLC.
Gamers seem to be growingly pessimistic about the direction Bethesda has undertaken with recent releases, with Starfield being its weakest release. And a change in direction for the studio doesn’t seem to be on the horizon.
Shen left to work as a lead content designer on Wyrdsong with his new studio. Without much information on the upcoming release, all we know is that it will be an open-world game set in medieval Portugal.
We hope that change will come in some form regarding Bethesda, either in approach or with those who are deciding on an approach. After so many successful releases, it would be a shame for a prominent studio to take the safe path and deliver average games.
