Pete Hines on Starfield, Bethesda and bugs: "We embrace chaos"

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Starfield is not technically out until next week, yet it is already dominating conversations in many ways across the games space – and inevitably bugs are a factor.

While multiple reviews from the initial wave of critique for Bethesda's latest blockbuster refer to Starfield as the company's most polished game to date, this comes with the slight caveat that it's not completely polished. Indeed, thanks to those with early access or review code, images of in-game bugs such as floating heads are already doing the rounds on social media - although these seem to be rarer than in Skyrim or Fallout.

GamesIndustry.biz spoke to head of global publishing Pete Hines ahead of launch at last week's Gamescom 2023, where the subject of Bethesda and its history with bugs inevitably came up. But while the company has become known (fondly, in the case of many fans) for the quirky errors in its open-world RPGs, Hines suggests its less important that the team's efforts to give players more freedom.

"We embrace chaos," he told us. "We could make a safer, less buggy, less risky game if we wanted to. But what we try to lean into is player freedom. Yes, there's going to be some little things here and there where your companion might stand a little too close to you sometimes, yet the freedom you get, and the things that happen because of that, we absolutely love and embrace.

"Of course there are bugs. But does it take away from your experience? Or do you have a consistent, fun game that you just can't stop playing and experimenting with?"

Our conversation with Hines delved into the state of the industry and where Starfield fits in, the influence of Xbox and Game