Starfield leaked start screen is heavily criticized

Former Blizzard developer Mark Kern has sparked controversy after criticizing the leaked start screen of the highly anticipated Starfield. Head of publishing at Bethesda, Pete Hines was quick to defend his team.

We are coming closer to the release of Starfield, and more information about the game is being leaked — including the start screen of the game. True to Bethesda’s style, the start screen has a minimalist design with the game’s logo and a simple menu.

Veteran developer Mark Kern openly criticized the design.

“Starfield’s start screen either shows hasty shipping deadlines by a passionate team overworked, or a team that didn’t care,” Kern wrote on Twitter.

Hines was quick to reply, explaining that it was a collective choice. According to Hines, this has been the menu for years. The head of publishing also questioned Kern’s decision to criticize the team.  

“Having an opinion is one thing. Questioning out a developer’s ‘care’ because you would have done it different is highly unprofessional coming from another ‘dev,’” Hines wrote back.

The community rallied behind Hines, pointing out that not only is this a classic Bethesda design, but also a game’s quality is not determined by the start screen. Kern continued to double down on his stance.

Starfield release date

Preloads of Starfield are starting to roll out, and it is a hefty one. For PC, the preload is a little under 140 GB. For Xbox Series X/S, the preload is closer to 127 GB. The preloads will be available until August 30 through Steam.

After the preloads, players will still need at least 125 GB of storage available on their devices. The game’s official release date is September 6.

Starfield, which is often described as Skyrim in space, is one of the most anticipated games of the year. It is the first new intellectual property by Bethesda in the past 25 years.