Former Bethesda Dev Suggests Players Are Tired of Massive Games

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Bethesda reigns supreme in the realm of grand, extensive video games. For decades, they’ve given us popular series such as Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and their latest release, Starfield – all being sprawling open-world games packed with hundreds of hours of content. Interestingly, a developer who has played a significant role in creating these masterpieces hinted that players might be feeling ‘tired’ or ‘exhausted’ by such games.

During a conversation with Kiwi Talkz on YouTube, Will Shen (formerly the main quest designer for Starfield) expressed his opinion that gamers are becoming weary of epic campaigns lasting 100 hours and vast worlds that cannot feasibly be fully explored.

‘A Tall Order’

Speaking exclusively to Kiwi Talkz, Will Shen explained:

As we progress, an increasing number of players are expressing signs of exhaustion, as they find it increasingly taxing to dedicate over 30 or even 100 hours to playing a single game.

They already possess games they frequently revisit, so introducing another game into their collection is quite a challenge, as it usually is.

Shen played a crucial role in the development of Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios’ largest game project to date. The game boasts over 1000 planets for players to freely explore. Prior to this, he contributed significantly to the creation of Skyrim and Fallout 4, both of which are massive games not just in terms of map size but also in terms of gameplay possibilities.

He pointed out that these games are such that you could continue playing them for an extended period, which is a characteristic shared by numerous titles from Bethesda.

Here’s the full interview for your perusal:

In October 2023, following a 15-year tenure at Bethesda Game Studios, Shen decided to part ways with the company, mere weeks after the launch of Starfield. His next destination was Something Wicked Games, where he began work on a project named Wyrdsong. Since August 2024, he has taken on the role of lead designer at Unknown Worlds Entertainment.

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2025-01-07 11:18