Emil Pagliarulo, head of design at Bethesda, responded to negative comments about the Starfield Shattered Space DLC.

Over the past few days, Bethesda has received more criticism than usual on social media and Steam. Because the release of Starfield: Shattered Space did not convince the community, nor did the trade press and content creators. Proof of this is that the latest reviews for Starfield’s expansion on Steam fall into the “Mixed” category, meaning players are a bit upset about some of the decisions the studio has made regarding the latest content.

Faced with a backlash of negative comments, Bethesda’s head of design, Emil Pagliarulo, took to X/Twitter to post several messages to defend the company and respond to players who only complain about the space RPG. Optimism and excitement are pretty standard for interviews. And I’m generally pretty optimistic and excitable (about games) by nature. That said, my optimism is in no way meant to be mud in the eye of any dissatisfied fan.” He previously gave an interview to Gamesradar.

There, among other things, he revealed that Starfield is “the best game we’ve ever made”.

However, he notes on the X-thread that “I’m also very proud of Shattered Space”, indeed “we all are” within the studio. He emphasizes that “most of the quests and levels were done by designers who have worked on previous Bethesda games and DLCs, going all the way back to Morrowind”, he says. “If folks haven’t played Shattered Space, and they like Starfield, I think they’re missing out. If folks have played Shattered Space and still don’t like it, that makes me sad, honestly,” he says.

Bethesda is not ignoring the players

“Just know that we’ve also been hearing from plenty of people who love it. Maybe it’s a game of expectations. Fans want a lot, and we do all we can to accommodate them. Here’s what I can tell you – nobody, and I mean nobody, at Bethesda is patting themselves on the back while ignoring our players. In addition to Shattered Space, we’ve also spent a lot of time this year addressing community concerns and making fixes. We’ll continue to do so, and will be listening to our fans every step of the way. We make these games for all of you,” says one of Bethesda’s bosses.

“Starfield is a massive game, and it takes time for us to address things. We move as fast as we can, as safely as we can. Game development is always tricky, but with a game as big as Starfield, every fix could potentially break something else,” notes Pagliarulo in one of his latest messages. “To close, let me just say… I love games. I love Bethesda’s games. I’ve been playing them since the Terminator days. All I or anyone here wants to do is make those games… and then make them better. Well ego. No arrogance. Just a lot of hard work, and appreciation of our fans” – he concludes.

Source: GamesRadar, X