Criticism of Starfield’s leaked starter main menu sparked conflicting reviews, sparking an online controversy.
Starfield reached out to reviewers in various media outlets. A common occurrence now, this has resulted in some leaked content from Starfield leaking online. Then the main menu leaked on social media was criticized, which led to the reaction of the Bethesda employee and a significant backlash.
Starfield will be released on September 6
Starfield will be released for PC and Xbox Series X/S on September 6. Bethesda Game Studios projects often have a certain amount of discussion around them. But Starfield launches in a much more irritating atmosphere. There have been negative sentiments about Starfield’s Xbox console customization, just as there have been jokes about Bethesda games not being very flattered at launch. Starfield has become a target for ill-intentioned internet users to start a discussion.
The most notable example of Starfield’s pre-launch discussions is about the game’s start menu. A short video from Starfield has leaked online. Former Blizzard producer and designer of StarCraft, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft Mark Kern opened up Starfield’s start menu for discussion. He stated on Twitter:
“Starfield’s start screen shows either the rush shipping deadlines of an overworked passionate team or the work of a team that doesn’t care.”
Or they designed what they wanted and that’s been our menu for years and was one of the first things we settled on.
Having an opinion is one thing. Questioning out a developer’s “care” because you would have done it different is highly unprofessional coming from another “dev”
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) August 20, 2023
Reaction to negative reviews
Kern’s comment caused a significant backlash on online platforms for its negative assumptions and accusatory tone. This comment even got a response from Pete Hines, head of publishing at Bethesda. Hines responded to Kern on Twitter, stating that their team “designed what they wanted” and that the main menu was one of the first things Bethesda set. Hines criticizes Kern, adding that it is highly unprofessional to question the developer’s care.
It’s hard to see exactly what’s been criticized on Starfield’s main menu. The screen has a simple structure. A planet appears in the shadow, and a star slowly appears, forming a thin ring of light around the planet. The Starfield logo is then placed above the center of the dark planet. It stands out that what is placed on the logo is its logo.