Starfield ‘Doesn’t Really Even Get Going’ Until Players Finish the Main Quest, Bethesda Exec Says

Bethesda head of publishing Pete Hines has said Starfield “doesn’t even really get going” until after the main story mission is completed.

During an appearance on Bethesda Mainstream at Gamescom 2023, Hines explained he had sunk roughly 80 hours into Starfield’s faction-based questlines and other side activities before being prompted by Bethesda head Todd Howard to get started on the main story.

“We intentionally don’t talk about the main quest a lot because truthfully it is super spoilery,” said Hines. “But I’m here to tell you that this game doesn’t even really get going until you finish the main quest.”

Pete Hines about #Starfield Quests & Size of the game

Pete Hines: I told Todd i hit about 80 hours
Todd: What do you think about the Main Quests
Pete: Oh i haven’t done it yet
Todd: What are you doing! 😂

Also says #Starfield doesn’t really get going until you finish the Main… pic.twitter.com/0S39cvGOjW

— Darrius Fears (@TheRealDfea) August 24, 2023

Hines noted the main quest took him around 50 hours to complete, which means that, by his own reckoning, Starfield didn’t “really get going” for the Bethesda veteran until he had sunk 130 hours into the game.

“That story, it’s my favourite Bethesda Game Studios story,” said Hines. “It’s my favourite Bethesda Games Studios’ ending to a story, and I hope people enjoy it as much as I have.”

It isn’t clear exactly what content will become available to players once they reach the conclusion of Starfield’s main quest but it’s possible Hines was referring to Starfield’s recently revealed New Game+ mode, which, according to Todd Howard, will feature “a unique and exciting twist”, that will “incentivise continued and repeat play”.

Whilst the vast majority of Starfield’s gargantuan story remains shrouded in mystery, spoilers have started to surface on social media.

Check out IGN’s primer article to get up to date with everything there is to know about Starfield, and to mark your diary for August 31, when we’ll be dropping our full review of the game.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer