Bethesda’s head of publishing, Pete Hines, has made an impressive boast about the longevity of the publisher’s upcoming space epic, Starfield. According to Hines, he didn’t feel like the game really "got going" until he was 130 hours in. That time includes 50 hours spent completing the main quest, and 80 hours on side quests.
"80 hours in, I went from doing one game to a completely different game where I started really focusing on the main quest," Hines said. "I got so caught up in the main quest, that I spent the next 50 hours just doing that. [...] this game doesn’t really even get going until you finish the main quest."
130 hours is roughly five and a half days of constant playtime, or just over three weeks of full time gaming, so it’s a lot of time to get in. There’s also an implication that this is barely the beginning of what you can expect from the game as well, with Hines further stating that someone telling you they’ve played 40 hours of Starfield says "nothing about what that person has done".
It’s certainly an impressive boast to make, but it’s also one that raises the question of how big games should be. While there’s certainly merit in judging a game by how much content it gives you for your buck, there comes a point where there’s simply too much game to really appreciate it. Could Starfield be butting against that? Possibly, but it’s more likely there’s a certain amount of amping up the game’s imminent release.
But even with that almost certainly being the case, it’s clear there’s a lot of Starfield for even the most dedicated of speedrunners. Starfield director Todd Howard estimates the main quest will take most players between 30 and 40 hours to complete, and that’s without taking into account the (likely) enormous amount of side quests available in the game. Much like Skyrim before it, Starfield looks likely to be the next game that’ll suck in all of our free time and spit it out.
Starfield releases on September 6 for Xbox Series X and Series S, and Microsoft Windows. Those who’ve bought the Premium or Constellation Edition can access the game a few days earlier, starting September 1.