Bethesda Delays Starfield And Redfall To First Half of 2023, Explains They Want Them To Be “The Best, Most Polished Versions”

Ryan Pearson |

May 13, 2022

Source: Starfield (2022), Betheasda Softworks

Bethesda announced both Starfield and Redfall have been delayed into next year, wanting “the best, most polished versions of them.”

The announcement was made via Twitter, pushing back Starfield’s release date from November 11th of this year, and Redfall from Summer 2022.”We’ve made the decision to delay the launches of Redfall and Starfield to the first half of 2023.”

“The teams at Arkane Austin (Redfall) and Bethesda Game Studios (Starfield) have incredible ambitions for their games,” Bethesda explained, “and we want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them.”

“We want to thank everyone for their excitement for Redfall and Starfield. That energy is a huge part of what inspires all of us every day and drives our own excitement for what we are creating,” Betheda assured.

“We can’t wait to share our first deep dive into the gameplay for both Redfall and Starfield soon. Thank you for your support,” they concluded.

The reason for the delay was not elaborated upon. The buyout of Bethesda parent company Zenimax by Microsoft and the COVID-19 lockdowns- while they would have a knock-on effect- are both too old to be reasonably considered as possible reasons.

Aside from development simply not running smoothly, the delays could be Bethesda fearing the game will not live up to gamer’s expectations.

Starfield was hyped by Bethesda Game Studio’s Director and Executive Producer as “the biggest most epic science fiction thing you could possibly imagine,” and described it as “Skyrim in Space,” as well as a “Han Solo Simulator.”

Lead Artist Istvan Pely later stated their companion interactions are “just so believable, you think it’s a real person.” In other words Starfield has a lofty goal to reach, with no sign of gameplay in recent trailers. Combined with Fallout 76’s infamous reputation, Bethesda Game Studios may wish even more so to avoid another buggy release.

Meanwhile, Redfall may have the opposite problem, fans expecting too little from it. While only the announcement trailer has been officially shown, screenshots of the game’s playtest did leak online.

Game Rant reported in September last year that despite being a work-in-progress, fans were not impressed with what they saw. They later reported it had been a “decidedly mixed reception.” Those leaks were the last things fans have really seen or heard about Redfall thanks to a lack of publicity.

On top of being yet another looter shooter, Redfall may need some extra work to make sure it not only meets its initial plans, but surpasses what onlookers were expecting.

Of course, this is pure speculation. As E3 2022 is cancelled, we may hear more on both titles at this year’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12th, and possibly more at the digital QuakeCon 2022 on August 18th to 20th.