Bethesda head of publishing Pete Hines has spoken out in response to remarks made by ex-Blizzard developer Mark Kern, who had previously leaked an image of Starfield’s start screen and criticized its design as "hasty" or the work of a team "that didn't care".
“The physiognomy of start screens," Kern in a Twitter post late last week. "The start screen of a game can reveal a lot about how rushed the team was and how much pride they took in their work. Starfield's start screen either shows hasty shipping deadlines by a passionate team overworked, or a team that didn't care.”
Kern went on to note in a subsequent tweet that, in his experience, such screens are created at “the very end of development”, and that it is common for start screens to change from their pre-launch state prior to a full release.
Or they designed what they wanted and that’s been our menu for years and was one of the first things we settled on.
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) August 20, 2023
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”
“It's quite common for the start screen to completely change once the game is shipping or on patch 0,” tweeted Kern. “Teams that take pride want to put a good face forward and will often redo these just prior to game going live.”
Bethesda’s head of publishing Pete Hines understandably took umbrage and refuted the remarks, replying in the comments to Kern's post with, “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,” continued the Bethesda veteran. “Questioning out a developer’s ‘care’ because you would have done it different is highly unprofessional coming from another ‘dev’.”
Numerous Twitter users were quick to defend the leaked start screen by highlighting examples of successful titles that boast similarly clean designs for their start screens, including the critically acclaimed Bethesda titles Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
If there's a correlation between Bethesda's game menu design and gameplay we should be in for a treat. https://t.co/EbuNGvy8Sk pic.twitter.com/2uOmuMmTYM
— ESO_Danny (@eso_danny) August 20, 2023
Title screens don't mean anything when it comes to a games overall quality. https://t.co/zVhZueb7px pic.twitter.com/6KOo2Tojtf
— Jadeˣᵛ (@Wildbergerrrr) August 19, 2023
Fun fact:
— Visual Fidelity (@VisualFidelity) August 19, 2023
Some of the highest rated games of all time have a similar simple start screen. Grummz couldn't be more wrong.
Elden Ring, Demon Souls, LOU2, Fallout 4... https://t.co/x0E5vELEei pic.twitter.com/3lKrJx6BDG
“What basic title screens. There must be no effort in these games” https://t.co/fTPofcnC0i pic.twitter.com/6hKK20PK3r
— TheNCSmaster (@TheNCSmaster) August 19, 2023
Pre-loads for Starfield on the Xbox Series X|S went live late last week, and review copies of the upcoming sci-fi epic are even now whirring in the consoles of reviewers worldwide. Sadly, leaks surrounding plot points and now design elements of the game have also started to appear online, so players hoping to go in fresh will have to remain vigilant when it comes to bad actors sharing spoilers on social media.
Be sure to check out IGN’s review of Starfield when it drops on August 31 at 9am Pacific Time, ahead of the game’s day one Game Pass release on September 6. Those who have opted to purchase one of the more expensive Premium Editions of the game, a Premium Edition upgrade, or the super-fancy smartwatch toting Constellation Edition will be able to jump into the sci-fi universe a full five days earlier on September 1, courtesy of early access.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
