Despite an initially positive reception, Bethesda’s Starfield failed to meet many players’ expectations. The upcoming Shattered Space DLC still has the potential to expand on some of the game’s underutilized features. Unfortunately, the game faces a new round of criticism for its creation club content, triggering a wave of negative Steam reviews.
Why was Starfield review bombed?
While Starfield already had a mixed reception on Steam, its recent reviews have plummeted to “Mostly Negative.” The backlash peaked on June 10 with 211 negative reviews, with hundreds more rolling in over the following week. While not all of these are about the Creation Club content, the backlash has been a big part.
“Bethesda wants you to spend $10 to buy a single quest mission,” reads one Starfield review before listing entire games for $10. “Putting quests behind a paywall. You should be ashamed,” reads another. Even a user who supports Creation Club said, “But I draw the line at adding a faction quest and then locking the second quest behind a paywall.”
The controversy began when Bethesda added Creation Club to Starfield in an update earlier this week. While the Creation Club’s paid mods were always at least a little controversial, many feel Starfield’s Trackers Alliance crosses the line. The faction and its repeatable bounty-hunting radiant quest are free, but the second mission type costs 700 credits. Since there is no way to purchase exactly 700 credits, players must buy the 1,000-credit pack for $9.99.
In practice, this means spending $10 on one mission. That’s a hard sell already and adding the Trackers for free and pay-walling the second quest makes it seem predatory. The fact that Bethesda, who only curates the Creation Club content, takes a sizable chunk of the money from Starfield’s paid mods isn’t great for PR either.
