Bethesda has announced it’s delayed its space-based RPG Starfield until 2023. In the same announcement, it also revealed that Redfall, the new co-op shooter from Arkane Studios will also not be released in 2022 as originally planned.
“We’ve made the decision to delay the launches of Redfall and Starfield to the first half of 2023,” Bethesda writes. “The teams at Arkane Austin and Bethesda Game Studios have incredible ambitions for their games, and we want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them.”
While Redfall has only been out in the open since its reveal at last year’s E3, it’s been a very long journey for Starfield. The RPG, described by Bethesda Softworks’ director Todd Howard as “Skyrim in space”, has been rattling around in the minds of the studio’s designers for more than 25 years.
It’s been a long wait for fans, too, who first spotted the title’s trademark back in 2013. Even then, it was another five years before Bethesda released a teaser trailer for the game, and another three before the studio actually revealed it at E3 2021.
The trailer, the first real tease of Starfield at all, included a release date. November 11, 2022. A bold play, but, as Todd Howard told the Washington Post at the time "We're confident in the date. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be announcing it.”
Still, with no in-game footage since that announcement, only a set of concept art trailers, it’s not too surprising to hear Bethesda’s delayed its ‘Skyrim in Space’.
Though, while both Redfall and Starfield won’t now be released until 2023, there is still a good chance both games will be making an appearance at the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase on June 12, so hopefully, we’ll at least get a look at how they play. After all, ‘Skyrim in space’ is a great way of suggesting the scope and scale of a game, but it doesn’t do any favors when it comes to judging if it will be a modern RPG.
The real question, though, is what games will we have to look forward to in 2022, with everything getting delayed?
