Todd Howard responds to controversy over Starfield's $7 mission: 'We hear the feedback'

In the wake of a controversial release of a single Starfield mission costing $7 as part of the game's new Creations program, Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard says the studio «hears that feedback» from unhappy players and will «take a look at that and how we deliver content like that» in future releases.

A recent update heralding the release of the Starfield Creation Kit included a new mission that enables players to become bounty hunters for the Trackers Alliance faction, with the promise of future Trackers Alliance missions coming in subsequent updates. But the second Trackers Alliance mission, The Vulture, is only available as a paid add-on costing 700 Starfield Creation Credits—the equivalent of $7, which in reality is $10 because that's the smallest amount of credits you can purchase to cover the cost.

The move was not well received. Unhappy players immediately recalled Bethesda's disastrous attempt to launch paid mods for Skyrim in 2015, and of course the infamous Oblivion Horse Armor DLC from 2006. The mission also received unfavorable comparisons to the Starfield premium edition upgrade, which includes the full Shattered Space expansion, the Constellation skin pack, digital art book, soundtrack, and 1,000 Creation Credits for $35: «Is Shattered Space actually just two quests in a trenchcoat?» one redditor rhetorically asked. Steam user reviews, predictably, took a nosedive.

All of this has not gone unnoticed at Bethesda. «We're always trying to be kind of looking at what else is out there, really make sure we're giving value to everybody,» Howard said in a recent MrMattyPlays interview. «And where we're not, hey, you know, we definitely will adjust.»

Bethesda's intention with The Vulture, according to Howard, was to «go the extra mile» by adding the Trackers Alliance outfit and weapon in a quest, the idea presumably being that it would be more interesting that simply throwing some new cosmetics and hardware into the game. What happened instead, said