Starfield Director Clarifies "Next-Generation" Means Hardware & Gameplay

Todd Howard of Bethesda has explained what he meant when he called Starfield “next-generation” during the E3 presentation. As it turns out, he meant it both in terms of software and gameplay, as well as hardware. In other words, they’re gunning to release Starfield on the upcoming PlayStation and Xbox. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll ignore the PS4 and Xbox One.

During this year’s E3 2018, Todd Howard of Bethesda described Starfield as “next-generation.” His words were: “We have also been working on a brand new, next-generation, single-player game, but this one is in an all-new epic franchise.” That phrasing lends itself to some speculation, as far as the gaming community is concerned. Mainly, people have been wondering whether Howard meant next-gen consoles, or some kind of next-gen software allowing for more sophisticated gameplay. Well, the answer is kinda as simple as it is potentially exciting. According to what Howard told Eurogamer, it’s both.

I the interview with Eurogamer, Howard spoke some more about the next-generation line. He said: “That to us means two things. It does mean hardware and it does mean software on our side, and it also means gameplay – what does the next generation of epic single-player RPGs feel like to us?” So, basically, it sounds like Bethesda is gunning for Starfield to be their ace in the sleeve for the PlayStation 5 and whatever the new Xbox console will be. Plus, they’re already trying to figure out what the expectations of the next generation are going to be.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re leaving current-gen consoles in the dust. The PS4 and Xbox One might also get Starfield, too. As Howard put it: “What systems we put it out on – what’s the hardware requirements – is still to be determined. We’re pushing it; we’re thinking very, very far in future so we’re building something that will handle next-generation hardware. That’s what we’re building on right now, that’s where our mind is, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t exist on the current systems as well.”