Starfield's design director assures fans that developers pay attention to community concerns

Emil Pagliarulo, the design director at Bethesda, has said that despite the DLC Shattered Space's less than stellar reception, he is proud of the work. However, he added that no one at Bethesda was "patting themselves on their backs while ignoring our customers."

Pagliarulo made his comments in response to Starfield player who took issue with certain comments made in an interview with GamesRadar. He was very effusive, saying that Starfield is, "in many ways, the best video game we've made." He also praised the new focus of Shattered Space which allows players to "wander and explore tons of hand-crafted content."

His words raised some eyebrows in this part of the world: despite an initial burst from some quarters of enthusiasm, Starfield received a very lukewarm reaction overall, while Shattered Space has a "mostly positive" user rating on Steam, (which, to be fair at least some, reflects dissatisfaction of the core game), and had a near negligible effect on Starfield's simultaneous player count.

MountainDude112 wasn't happy with Pagliarulo’s positive tone when he was faced with what is, compared to any other RPG from Bethesda’s long and storied past, a failure. He wrote a long thread in which he said that it seemed as though Pagliarulo was "doubling down" and protecting choices that have at best received mixed reviews, while ignoring issues the fan base has been pointing to for years.

Pagliarulo responded with a similar lengthy response. He wrote: "As design director, I am sometimes asked to do interviews or given instructions. "I was delighted to do this, to represent the studio and the designers. They deserved no less, given how hard they worked and how passionately on Shattered Space.

"Optimism, excitement and enthusiasm are standard in interviews." I'm a pretty optimistic person (about games). My optimism is not meant to smear the eyes of any unhappy fan. "That's not the way it works."

Pagliarulo said that he is very proud of Shattered space, saying that the majority of the quests, levels, and DLC were created by Bethesda veterans. Some of them have been with Bethesda since Morrowind. Starfield fans that haven't played Shattered Space yet are "missing it," he said. While it makes him "sad," that some people dislike it, "just be aware that we've heard from plenty of people that love it."

"Maybe this is a game about expectations." He wrote: "Fans expect a lot and we do everything we can to meet their expectations." "Here's something I can tell you: nobody at Bethesda, and I do mean nobody, is patting themselves on their back while ignoring our player.

"In addition, we spent a great deal of time in this year fixing community problems and addressing concerns. We will continue to do this, and we will listen to our fans at every step. "We make these games for you all."

The exchange was civil, reasonable, and thoughtful. This is a rarity for X. Pagliarulo acknowledged this in a separate blog post that continued the same line of thinking. "Talking about X specific issues is a recipe (or clickbait article) for disaster," he wrote. "That being said, Bethesda is aware of every bug and issue in the game. We constantly evaluate everything we find. Each fix is a matter only of time and risk.

"But, as an avid gamer who encounters problems with games by other developers--games that I love! --I know how it feels when the issue is affecting me personally... and making it less fun. That kills me. "I wish we could automagically solve everything."

Pagliarulo, despite calling X a "recipe for disaster," hasn't held back from sharing his opinions. In December 2023, he criticized unfair criticism of game designs from people who didn't understand how game design worked. A few months later, he caused a stir by implying the male protagonist of Fallout 4 is actually a criminal from Fallout 1. He later clarified this was not Fallout canon but just a little "head canon." Recipe for disaster, indeed.