It seems that Starfield developer Bethesda is becoming a reply guy: apparently customer support is jumping into negative Steam reviews to inform people that, no, Starfield is good actually. While it’s disappointing to see a game company borrow a tactic most recently made popular by the Democratic Party, it’s also very funny.
If you check out Starfield’s Steam reviews, you’ll see replies from various accounts with “Bethesda” in their user names, along with the note that “a developer has responded to this review.” Responses seem to go back through September, though the practice came to light this week when Twitter user JuiceHead brought it up.
There’s an eerie forced cheer to many of these replies. For example, in response to a November 26 review calling the game “generic,” “boring, and a “soulless chore,” a Bethesda account replies (in rhyme!), “You can fly, you can shoot, you can mine, you can loot!”
In response to a November 7 review critiquing the game for using loading screens and fast travel in lieu of exploration, a Bethesda account replies, “While there may be loading screens in between fast travelling, just consider the amount of data for the expansive gameplay that is procedurally generated to load flawlessly in under 3 seconds. We believe that shortcoming will not hinder our players from getting lost in the world we created.”
Under a review from October 26 saying “This game makes you feel small in a small world that is pretending to be big” and lamenting that player actions don’t feel like they affect the world, a Bethesda account replies somewhat nonsensically, “We are sorry that you do not like landing on different planets and are finding many of them empty. Some of Starfield’s planets are meant to be empty by design - but that's not boring. ‘When the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there. They certainly weren't bored.’” (This quote appears to be from a New York Times interview with director Todd Howard and Bethesda managing director Ashley Cheng and is, if I’m honest, a bit of masterful “only boring people are bored” sleight-of-hand.)
Under a review from October 11 calling the game “mind numbingly boring” and claiming that a few hours in “you realize you've done everything this game has to offer," a Bethesda account rebuts that “we hope you return to your journey through space soon!”
Many of the Bethesda replies contain similar language, and they point reviewers to Starfield’s support site and feedback forms. This suggests the folks writing these replies are working off a script, which I would hope they are– I can’t imagine what it’s like to spend multiple workdays hand-crafting a response to every ground axe on Steam, so I support them finding some respite wherever they can. I can also respect the courage it takes to ignore the internet’s most sacred advice, “don’t read the comments,” and to not only read them, but take the time to reply.
While it’s nice of developers to give players hints of things they might do in a game, these replies aren’t support tickets. They’re basically saying players who don’t like the game are wrong to be bored or disappointed or even done with it; they just don’t understand all it has to offer. It reminds me of the Democrats’ recent strategy in response to complaints about the economy or Biden’s failure to live up to his promise of cancelling student loans: insisting that if those of us who don’t like something are actually wrong, and the thing is good, and if you don’t think the thing is good, you simply don’t understand the thing well enough.
In remarks on October 6, when asked why “most people still don’t feel positive or feel good news about the economy,” Biden replied, “I think they [the American people] know they’re better off financially than they were before. It’s a fact.” This is literally not a response to the question (he also goes on to tell the reporter that “you get more legs when you’re reporting something that’s negative,” but that’s a topic for another blog); it’s simply refuting the premise of the question itself to avoid answering it. It’s infuriating and insulting as a strategy, and it doesn’t seem to be doing the Democrats many favors, either.
But hey, maybe it’ll work out for Bethesda! At least some of the Bethesda replies try to offer suggestions for how people might enjoy the game, suggesting they… well, basically just keep playing it. If “this is fine” is good enough for the US government, maybe it’s good enough for a video game company, too.
