Ex-Bethesda dev says the studio no longer had the “freedom” that made Skyrim great when making Starfield

While Starfield is a fun sci-fi RPG with some great parts, it’s no secret that the game lacks the magic of Skyrim. 14-years on and Skyrim still has a massive fanbase of gamers who want nothing more than to stay in that world, but what exactly has caused the Bethesda magic to fade?

According to former Skyrim, Fallout and Starfield developer Nate Purkeypile, the freedom that developers used to have at the company has all-but disappeared. While experimentation was rampant in the days of Bethesda’s past, that’s no longer the case.

Skyrim freedom no longer exists at Bethesda’s

Speaking at the Game Developers Conference, via PC Gamer, Purkeypile explained that some of the most iconic parts of Skyrim came around because of developer freedom.

“We had quite a bit of freedom to do stuff,” the developer explained. “The one that people know about was Blackreach … That was not on schedule at all. Like we just kind of did that on the side and put it in.”

“A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having that freedom to do what you want, as opposed to a game with this whole checklist design and design by committee,” he continued.

In the past, Purkeypile revealed that he left Bethesda during Starfield’s development due to the sheer amount of meetings the studio would hold. Unlike the time of Skyrim’s development, every addition now has a discussion attached, and it not only slows development, but decimates freedom. That’s probably why The Elder Scrolls 6 is taking so damn long.

“You would basically get in trouble for doing that,” Purkeypile said about returning to the open nature of Skyrim’s development. “Because everything does have a cost… If everyone is doing that within 500 people, it’s a mess. But with, you know, 100 people? It’s much more manageable, and where a lot of the interesting things come from.”

Nowadays, Purkeypile is working on his own project. The Axis Unseen, a new open world horror game, is the Skyrim developer’s baby, and it’s available to nab on Steam right now. In fact, the game is even on sale at the time of writing.