Starfield’s intergalactic adventures won’t be ending with the upcoming Shattered Space story expansion. In a new interview, Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard confirmed the studio is already deep in development on additional DLC to follow their “annual story expansion” approach with the space RPG.
Speaking to YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Howard stated Bethesda wants to take a similar longer-term content roadmap with Starfield as they have with previous releases like Skyrim and Fallout 4. “I would say we want to, more or less, yeah,” Howard said when asked about continued expansions. “How long that continues? Hopefully a very long time.”
He then revealed, “We’re already planning for the one after this. There will be another one [after Shattered Space].” However, Howard remained tight-lipped on specifics, only adding that Bethesda doesn’t necessarily aim to “answer every question” with these expansions.
Instead, they look at “what’s a good angle? What do we want to add to the game as far as an experience or a tone or those kinds of things?” This suggests Starfield’s post-launch content could explore wildly different mysteries, locations, and storylines across the Settled Systems.
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Shattered Space itself, slated to release sometime later in 2024, will introduce a creepy new narrative centered around the snake-worshipping House Va’ruun. Bethesda provided the first full look at the expansion during the recent Xbox Games Showcase.
Starfield has already amassed over 14 million players since its September 2023 launch according to Howard, with the average player logging around 40 hours of play time so far. Those numbers are only expected to grow as Bethesda expands their ambitious interstellar RPG throughout its lifespan.
While Shattered Space will mark just the first major premium expansion, Howard’s latest comments confirm it is simply the opening salvo in an extensive pipeline of new storylines still to come. After over two decades in development, it appears Starfield’s universe will keep expanding for years to come.
