Bethesda explains why Starfield modders can fix bugs faster than devs

In response to player complaints about the speed of official Starfield updates, particularly in comparison to fan-made mods, a Bethesda community manager has explained why the process takes so long.

Starfield has had a rough couple of months. After releasing to mixed to positive reviews, player opinions of Bethesda’s massive space epic have largely soured, reaching “mostly negative” user reviews on Steam.

Some of the criticism stems from the game receiving few updates since launch to address its various bugs and other player-reported issues. Starfield’s recent most patch looks like a good first step, but it’s currently only available in Steam Beta.

At the same time, modders have been releasing their own “patches” featuring bug fixes and other adjustments. This has led some to criticize Bethesda, and now the developer is explaining why official updates take so long.

Bethesda Game Studios

Starfield dev explains why updates take longer than mods

In response to a Reddit post regarding the recent update, Bethesda community manager Robert O’Neill (who goes by ‘VaultOfDaedalus’ on social media) responded to a user who questioned why it took the devs four months to address issues modders have already fixed.

As O’Neill explains, “Official fixes and content additions have to go through lengthy certification and localisation processes, especially for consoles (which is why the beta is only available for Steam users).”

He also says “best bundled into larger consolidated updates,” as it “ensures better build testing when the new code is all together.”

While it may be frustrating for fans, the response makes sense. There are plenty of stories of one bug fix causing another issue. Packaging and testing them together means the developers can figure out how the changes impact each other all at once, rather than doling them out one by one.

Even when setting aside the certification process O’Neill mentions, the standards for an official update are far higher than those for a mod. It’s one thing when a mod you chose to download causes major issues – whether those be further bugs or actual security risks – and something entirely different for a developer to push out a flawed update that impacts all players.

Though Starfield changes might be taking longer than players hoped, Bethesda has promised more consistent updates throughout 2024, plus the release of the Shattered Space expansion.