A dubious review of the Starfield leaked opening menu screen has sparked a heated online debate about its development and priorities.

A heated online debate seems to have erupted after the online leak of the Starfield opening main menu screen. Especially after some dubious criticisms. Most recently, a controversial figure on social media criticised the leaked main menu. This prompted a response from a Bethesda employee and a significant amount of backlash.

Starfield will be released on September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S. Bethesda Game Studios’ projects always seem to be surrounded by some controversy, but Starfield is launching in a much more martial atmosphere. It’s already been joked that Bethesda games lack polish at launch. But there are also negative feelings around Starfield’s Xbox console exclusivity.

The result is that Starfield has become the target of less than well-meaning internet users trying to stir up controversy.

Perhaps the most notable example of the pre-Starfield controversy relates to the game’s opening menu. Some short footage of the game was leaked online, which was essentially harmless. However, Mark Kern, former producer at Blizzard and designer of StarCraft, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft, decided to turn the opening menu into a controversy. On Twitter, he stated that “Starfield’s opening screen is either a sign of an overworked, passionate team with a rushed delivery deadline, or a team that doesn’t care”.

Kern’s comment sparked a significant amount of backlash online due to the negative assumptions and accusatory tone. The comment even prompted a response from Bethesda’s publishing chief, Pete Hines. Hines responded to Kern on Twitter, saying the team “designed what they wanted” and that the main menu was “one of the first things” Bethesda agreed on.

Hines even went so far as to criticise Kern, saying that to question a developer’s “diligence” because they might have done it differently is “highly unprofessional”.

It is difficult to see precisely what Kern is criticising in the game’s main menu. The screen is simple, for sure. It shows a planet in shadow, with a star extending from its edge, creating a thin line of light around the planet’s circumference. The Starfield logo then appears above the centre of the dark planet. This logo is layered on top of what the logo is based on.

It is entirely possible that the Bethesda development team is indeed overworked. It has been accused of having a crunch culture in the past, although Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty says that culture has changed. It’s also possible that Starfield is being released too early, which is a criticism of most Bethesda games.

Source: Eurogamer

Or they designed what they wanted and that’s been our menu for years and was one of the first things we settled on.

Having an opinion is one thing. Questioning out a developer’s “care” because you would have done it different is highly unprofessional coming from another “dev”

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) August 20, 2023