Although it was set to take 2023 by storm, Starfield feels like a footnote in Bethesda's recent history, especially after the surprise shadow-drop of Oblivion Remastered. This is likely for several reasons, one of which is that it failed to endear itself to fans with its world and mechanics. Bethesda games are known for longevity, whether through mods like with Skyrim, or through wacky moments and memes, which had kept Oblivion going before the remaster. Fallout 4 and New Vegas still have massive mod projects in the works, but Starfield has none of this.

Despite great sales and many people playing it because of the day-one Xbox Game access, Starfield failed to make a massive impact beyond 2023, and subsequent updates and its expansion haven't made it the phenomenon Bethesda probably hoped it could be. This is partly because Baldur's Gate 3 blew the competition out of the water that year, and its continual , especially with mods, kept everyone else quiet. It was hoped that the modding community would latch onto Starfield and make it truly special, but this hasn't happened either.

Starfield's Modding Scene Is In Dire Straits

Modders Aren't Motivated To Work On Starfield

According to an article from GamesRadar, a team led by mod author Pickysaurus who works on The Starfield Community Patch has not updated the project since September and the reasons behind this are worrying. On the Starfield Modding Discord server, Pickysaurus stated that their team is no longer working on the mod, despite it being one of the biggest for the game. They are currently looking for another team to take the project off them, although if no one comes forward, the project will have to be abandoned and players will be directed to Arthmoor's instead.

Arthmoor is known for The Unofficial Patch series, having made one for Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starfield, and Oblivion Remastered.

The website for the mod is still being maintained until someone else comes forward, but this is worrying for Starfield since The Community Patch is one of the largest mod projects in of s, and it has basically been abandoned. When asked why, Pickysaurus stated on the Discord server that the of the team 'have found themselves disenchanted with the game for various reasons - lack of replay-ability, the paid modding situation, moved on to playing new games, etc.' Modders for Bethesda titles don't usually lack motivation, especially when looking at other massive modding teams.

Fallout: London was a huge labor of love that took years to make, yet that team got it done. Modders like Vicn for Skyrim have constantly made new content for a game that is over thirteen years old, yet Starfield lacks the magic to keep a patch team interested for less than a couple of years. It's worrying considering that many thought the modding community would come to the game's rescue after seeing its many flaws, making it into the game many thought it would be, but it seems the modding community would rather keep working on Skyrim.

Starfield Couldn't Endear Itself To The Modding Community

The Reasons For This Are Endless

Ultimately, Starfield's biggest mistake was being unable to endear itself to the modding community, which could have kept the core audience interested for years to come by improving the game mod by mod. One reason for this is that Starfield isn't as interesting as Skyrim and Fallout, failing to make the world intriguing when compared to Bethesda's other IPs with decades of history. Another is that the game lacks the unique soul of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, with the overall aesthetic falling flat and lacking the iconic nature of Bethesda's other IPs.

Despite the criticism it received, Starfield did manage an impressive 330,723 peak concurrent players on Steam.

Bethesda hasn't helped itself with the paid modding situation either. Starfield's Creation Club (and the Creation Clubs in general) have created controversy. Although this system and the in-built mod manager allow console players to get involved, modding largely takes place with Nexus Mods.

With many of these Creation Club mods coming straight from Bethesda, it doesn't really help modders get paid for their work. Still, modders would have been able to see past this if Starfield was interesting enough to keep them glued to their PCs. Instead, the Creation Club is another reason not to mod the game.

Pair this with Bethesda's lack of for the game, and it all feels like Starfield is a project that will soon be forgotten while the studio moves onto bigger and better things, like the outsourced Oblivion Remastered and The Elder Scrolls 6. Despite a new update entering beta and the Shattered Space expansion, it just feels like Bethesda isn't willing to do what CD Projekt Red did with Cyberpunk 2077, and just wants to move on from the project, while something like Skyrim got three DLC, Fallout 4 got a whopping six, and Fallout 76 has had twenty-two major updates.

Starfield Lacks Skyrim and Fallout 4's Soul

And Modders Would Rather Work On Something Else

Bethesda games are still at the top of the modding roost, but for the first time in the studio's history, there is genuine competition. Sure, nothing is going to match Skyrim's modding community. Just look at something like the Nolvus modlist project, but games like Baldur's Gate 3 with its modding community is giving mod authors a great platform to create and share their creations. While Starfield may have had more from the modding community if released years earlier, now modders have their attention divided by many other games.

Baldur's Gate 3, The Witcher 3, and Hogwarts Legacy have all released modding toolkits in the last year, with BG3 having a Curse of Strahd project in the works on par with Fallout: London's scale. Starfield's inability to endear itself to its modding community and keep them interested is made more glaring by other titles on their way to emulate Skyrim's succes with their community content. Bethesda's modding community always being there to back up its games may have been a dead cert in the past, but Starfield has proven that they might not be there for long.

Bethesda's lack of new content for Starfield and the recent success with Oblivion Remastered might prove that the studio wants to move on from the game as quickly as possible. The Elder Scrolls 6 is next on the to-do list, with a Fallout 3 remaster in the works too. If the always reliable modding community isn't there to keep the game going, it might not be worth Bethesda's resources to invest more in the title. Perhaps the IP can come back with a sequel that will endear itself to its audience, but until then, there's always The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

Source: GamesRadar, Discord