A game developer has sparked a "controversy" over the leaked start menu of Starfield, the next major RPG from Bethesda. The controversy has gotten to the point where Bethesda's Pete Hines took the time to respond in kind.
It all started when leaks of Starfield started to filter the internet late last week. One of the images was a leaked look at the RPG's start menu, a minimalistic approach showcasing a planet with the sun peeking out over the horizon. There is also the standard faire of menu options, as well as the Starfield logo. It's pretty minimalistic and in keeping with Bethesda Games Studios' aesthetic (I mean, remember the Skyrim start screen?).
History wasn't enough to keep one game developer from calling out the Bethesda Game Studios team on Twitter. Mark Kern, who formerly worked at Blizzard as the team lead on World of Warcraft, as well as his own studio, Firefall developer Red 5 Studios, where he was voted out of in 2013, sparked the controversy by expressing disappointment over the start screen.
The physiognomy of start screens.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. pic.twitter.com/Ok4gzQ3DVo
— Grummz (@Grummz) August 19, 2023
"Start screens can reveal a lot about how rushed the team was and how much pride they took in their work," Kern said on Twitter. "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 state that these start screens are "often done at the very end of development."
"Teams that take pride want to put a good face forward and will often redo these just prior to game going live," he continued in the thread.
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
The statement caught the attention of Bethesda Head of Publishing Pete Hines, who shot back on Twitter, calling the decision by Kern to question how much the developers cared "unprofessional."
"Or they designed what they wanted and that's been our menu for years and was one of the first things we settled on," Hines shot back. "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."
Personally, I love the minimalistic approach Bethesda took here, as the sun poking out over the horizon of the planet evokes a sense of discovery. I want to find out what that planet is hiding on that silhouetted surface. Starfield releases on PC and Xbox Series S|X consoles on September 6th, though players can get a headstart on September 1st if they purchase the Constellation edition of the RPG.