Starfield’s June Update wins the game fresh backlash as Steam reviews bomb: “This is not the way”
Starfield’s June Update is here, but fans aren’t happy with its Creations.
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Yesterday was a big day for Microsoft with the2024 Xbox Games Showcase, and one of the biggest games with a presence at the show wasStarfield, Bethesda’s colossal 2023 space exploration RPG. Not only did fans geta first-look at the Shattered Space expansioncoming later this year, but Bethesda also dropped a free June Update with bug fixes, melee combat improvements, ammunition crafting, an introductory Trackers Alliance bounty hunting mission, and more — includingthe debut of Starfield’s Creation Kiton Steam as well as its Creations menu where players can publish mods or add them to their game.
The long-awaited arrival of official modding tools for Starfield is undoubtedly great, which may have you wondering why the headline of this article is what it is. Well, while everyone was excited by the prospect of advanced new mods on-par with some of the crazy stuff you see getting made for Skyrim and Fallout 4, the Bethesda-curated mods in the Creations menu made by either the studio itself or Verified Creators have drawn significant player ire due to their prices.
The Vulture — the first of what will be many Trackers Alliance mission Creations,according to Bethesda’s lead creative producer Tim Lamb— costs 700 Creation Credits, or $7. Many smaller items like decorations or a new pistol will set you back anywhere from $1-3, with things like short quests, ship modules, and larger decor priced at $5-10. As you can see below, fans aren’t happy with those rates:
Several of the top posts on theStarfield subredditright now voice concerns about how expensive paid Creations are at launch, and Starfield is also going through a bit of a review bombing on Steam with roughly 150 negative reviews posted in the last day. This has sunk the RPG’s Recent Reviews score down to “Mixed.”
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Creation Club mods inSkyrimandFallout 4have always been controversial — we’ve been having “paid mods” debates since 2017, at this point — but I think what’s earned Starfield a fresh wave of backlash is that unlike those past Bethesda titles, it’s often criticized for not having enough content in the vanilla experience. Essentially, players are being met with expensive paywalls at a time when they feel Starfield should be getting substantial amounts of content in free updates.
“This is not the way,” readsone reviewfrom Attila Gorilla. “Adding paid mods that should have been included in the base game, while ignoring the thing fans have been clamoring for, ain’t the way to do it.” Then,anotherby Tom: “Having to pay for content that should have been in the game from the start is just wrong. You created a half cooked bounty system and a faction you couldn’t officially join on day one which was pathetic and now decide to add it later but you have to pay for each volume.”
Personally, I’m not much bothered by theconceptof Bethesda’s Creation Club systems and “paid mods,” though I fully agree with the complaint that Starfield’s Creations, regardless of quality, are definitely too pricy right now. It also feels tone deaf to charge for these bite-sized pieces of content after the game was (and is) widely criticized for being fairly shallow and boring, butit wouldn’t exactly be the first time Bethesda failed to read a room.
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With that said, though, I plan to do what I’ve always done with the Creation Club: ignore it and use alternatives from Nexus Mods instead. Keep an eye on theStarfield Nexus page, because now that the Creation Kit’s out, you can expect to see tons of amazing (and free) mods published there by talented community members.
Starfield is available on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PCs via Steam and the Microsoft Store. It’s also playable through Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, andXbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Starfield |was $69.99now $43.49 at CDKeys (Steam)
Starfield is the largest RPG Bethesda has ever made, and while it certainly has its issues, it’s still a solid game and one of 2023’s biggest sci-fi titles. You can snag it right now for some big discounts, or alternatively, you can blast off to the stars with Xbox Game Pass.
Also see:Starfield (Xbox, $46.89)|Premium Edition (PC, $66.59)|Premium Edition (Xbox, $69.99)
Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
