A recent clash between a Bethesda executive and a former World of Warcraft director has ignited a debate over Starfield’s leaked title screen. The clash began when Mark Kern, the former director of World of Warcraft, tweeted a screenshot of the Starfield title screen and criticized the amount of effort put into its design. Kern suggested that the title screen either showed rushed development or a lack of care from the team.
Kern stated, ‘The start screen of a game can reveal a lot about how rushed the team was and how much pride they took in their work. Starfield’s start screen either shows hasty shipping deadlines by a passionate team overworked, or a team that didn’t care.’ He further explained that start screens are often completed at the end of development, and it’s not uncommon for them to be completely changed before the game is released.
Pete Hines, the head of publishing at Bethesda, responded to Kern’s comments and defended the team’s design choices. Hines refuted the suggestion that the title screen reflected a lack of care or rushed development. He stated, ‘Or they designed what they wanted, and that’s been our menu for years and was one of the first things we settled on. Having an opinion is one thing. Questioning a developer’s ‘care’ because you would have done it differently is highly unprofessional coming from another ‘dev.”
The debate surrounding Starfield’s leaked title screen didn’t end there. Microsoft studio InXile joined in with a sarcastic response, jokingly announcing that developer resources were being diverted from the main game to focus on perfecting the start screen. While their response was meant as a joke, it added a lighthearted tone to the discussion.
Despite the controversy surrounding the leaked title screen, Bethesda announced that Starfield has gone gold, indicating that the main development of the game has been completed. The game is now ready to move into the manufacturing stage. Players can already preload the game on Xbox Series X/S and will be able to do so on Steam starting August 30th, in preparation for the game’s release on September 6th.
