Starfield Received a 'Major Engine Rewrite' for Next-Gen Consoles

Larry Hryb’s latest episode of the Major Nelson podcast brought together Xbox boss Phil Spencer and Bethesda’s Todd Howard and Pete Hines in the first interview since Xbox announced it acquired Bethesda. And while the respective company heads still kept a lot of details close to the chest, there were some details about the upcoming Starfield and what the union means for the two companies. While Hryb primarily asked his panel of guests about the blockbuster deal where Xbox acquired all of ZeniMax Media — which includes Bethesda and studios like Arkane — Hryb did have a surprise question about the upcoming Starfield for Todd Howard. Hryb asked Howard if there is any new information the Bethesda game director could share about Starfield, the studio’s long-in-development space RPG. While Howard refrained from sharing too much, he did reveal that the project will be a “major engine rewrite” which will utilize the next-gen systems. “The people all know me, I like to wait as long as possible to show stuff so uh, we’re closer to show stuff than we were at the beginning of the conversation,” Howard joked. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/06/11/starfield-teaser-trailer-e3-2018"] Bethesda's Creation Engine was the focus of some controversy back in 2018 when Howard revealed its next-gen games like Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 would be using the studio's proprietary game development tool. Though engines aren't static and are upgraded with new features and tools regularly. Other topics that were discussed include how the deal between Xbox and ZeniMax even happened, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer reiterated that it was all based on the long relationship between the two companies. “For us there’s this long-standing relationship of what does it mean for [Bethesda] to build what they’re trying to build on top of our platform that makes, in many instances, us feel like one team,” Spencer said. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-xbox-series-x-games&captions=true"] When asked if Spencer had any closing thoughts, he responded, “At a fundamental level our goal with every move that we make at Team Xbox is to enable you to play the games you want to play with the people you want to play with and where you want to play them.” Spencer added, “I just want people to know that these kinds of partnerships, these kinds of steps whether it’s a technology move or a partnership move with a studio like Bethesda, are all just about furthering our vision there. Of allowing more people to play, giving creators the best place to build the most amazing things they can build, and find the largest audience they can.” For more on the Xbox ZeniMax acquisition, check out IGN’s top takeaways from the deal, and our special Unlocked discussing the developments. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.