Upon release, Starfield was set to make its mark on a new frontier in the stars in 2023, and as we know Bethesda promised us all that the title would have regular content drops that would give players a major expansion every year after release. Fast-forward two years down the line, and we have Shattered Space and….. That’s all folks (cue the Looney Tunes theme song) because as of yet, Bethesda hasn’t released anything beyond that and have failed to mention a word about it.
With fans giving up hope for another major expansion following the very lack luster reception of Shattered Space, and with few next-to-no information about the supposedly upcoming DLC which was set to focus on the Starborn, this has left the community who still actively engage with Starfield feeling like a raider star cruiser without its wings, adrift and far from home.
Before Starfield dropped, it was made public to fans that the upcoming expansion drop of Shattered Space was on its way, and Bethesda had also indicated that the expansion would drop not long after the main title did (September 2023), yet it released a year after launch. Let’s face it, this was likely an effort to revive interest in the game and give Starfield a resurgence in its player base. However, with its repetitive nature and a noticeable lack of care spent to address core gameplay issues which still existed in the game, it didn’t quite serve as the game’s second coming.
As the timeline drags on, players find themselves nearly a year out from the release of the previous expansion, leaving fans left sitting in what seems to be dead space (pun intended), despite Todd Howard stating that another expansion was in development as of June 2024. As we all know, we are far beyond that and there has been no real message from Bethesda Game Studios, despite there being multiple opportunities for to showcase what players can expect, such as the 2025 Summer Game Fest. With Gamescom soon approaching near the end of next month, perhaps fans of the title will get some much-needed attention.
Right now, this is all simmering down to the responsibility of Bethesda or lack thereof. It seems like the promise of regular content drops was at the time misguided and shallow, though this could come down to the recent layoffs that the studio has been dealing with as of late. As many are aware, Bethesda has been downsizing staff members and developers linked to their projects, and this could be one of the primary issues, along with multiple other reasons why players have been met with such a lack of additional content in Starfield.
When you look at how other titles under the company’s umbrella like Fallout 76 have been regularly updated and kept fresh with constant improvements and content inclusions, it seems as though Bethesda may indeed be forgetting about Starfield or at least putting it on the backburner while other games seem to take precedence. However, if the next expansion does drop (and that at this point, that’s a big if), and ultimately underperforms to deliver, much in the way that Shattered Space underperformed, would that spell the end of the title? I fear that it may, though I am currently speculating based solely on their recent track record in regard to the game.
With fans hoping for an announcement at Gamescom 2025, which gets rolling on August 20th and runs through the 24th of the month, Bethesda would be smart to drop a teaser for Starfield‘s upcoming DLC at the event. However, knowing that Fallout 76 has its “biggest update ever” planned, Bethesda will likely showcase a reveal for that, though that doesn’t mean they’ll ignore Starfield. As a fan of the space RPG title, it disappoints me that the studio is actively letting down their fans by not provoding semi-regular content drops and updates, as would follow through on their promise. I am optimistic because I have trusted Bethesda for a long time, but I just hope that they are true to their word.
Let us know in the comments below how you feel. Are you falling back to earth from Starfields fallout? Or are you still holding out hope for a new expansion?
