Starfield might not even be at E3 2020 – “everyone should be very patient”

Todd Howard's penchant for quick releases could mean Starfield remains absent from the next couple of E3s

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Bethesda fans will need to be “very patient” when it comes to waiting for the game’s next major release. In an interview with IGN, game director Todd Howard said that the studio’s sci-fi RPG is still a long way off.

When asked when fans would get to see more of the game, and if it might show up at E3 2020, Howard said that “everyone should be very patient.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that development progress is slow, however, as Howard mentions that his own preferences can have a big impact when it comes to deciding exactly when Bethesda will show off a game.

“I will say this. I like when you really see the game to when it’s out [to be] as short as possible. As short as people will let me.” Howard goes on to say that the five month window between the full unveiling of Fallout 4 and its release date was “as short as anyone would allow me to do,” and that marketing and retail partnerships are important factors in widening that window.

Howard says that for him, the ideal length of time between reveal and release would be one week. That would be enough time “just to get people excited, to have those moments of ‘I saw it’, some trailers, let it percolate in your mind.”

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Recent examples have suggested that an immediate release can go pretty well. The Apex Legends player count shot into the tens of millions after its surprise launch earlier this year, and Fallout Shelter (which has a Chinese sequel on its way) achieved more than 120 million downloads after Bethesda revealed and released it during E3 2015.

Blast off: Starfield won’t be “limited” by current-gen hardware

As for when we’ll actually get our hands on Bethesda’s next big projects, details on both the Starfield release dates and The Elder Scrolls 6 release dates are pretty slim – but don’t expect either of them for several years. It should be worth the wait, however, as Howard says that we’ll be playing The Elder Scrolls 6 for “a decade at least.” So that should last us until about 2035, right?