Todd Howard Had a Fun Reply to a Silly Question About Starfield PC Optimisation

Starfield development chief Todd Howard had a fun response after an interviewer asked him why Bethesda hadn’t optimised Starfield for PC.

The Bloomberg interviewer set up the question by saying they’d asked their viewers for questions for Todd Howard, and a “big question from many” was: “why did you not optimise this game for PC?”

After a brief pause in which Howard looked a little nonplussed (Xbox boss Phil Spencer has a little laugh, too), an answer that cut to the heart of the issue: “We did. It’s running great. It is a next-gen PC game. We really do push the technology so you may need to upgrade your PC for this game. But it’s got a lot of great stuff going on in it and the fans are responding awesome.”

The message is clear: if you’re having a hard time running Starfield on PC, upgrade your rig.

Bloomberg audience Q: Why did you not optimize Starfield for PC?
Todd Howard: we did… you might need to upgrade your PC

Full interview: https://t.co/TFEVMv9AXZ pic.twitter.com/3o1eS1iJSG

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) September 7, 2023

Of course, no game runs flawlessly on all PC configurations. System requirements are designed to give players an idea of what’s required before they buy. But Starfield’s ‘mostly positive’ user review rating on Steam suggests the PC version has launched in a good state, which is quite the thing for a Bethesda game. The Microsoft effect, perhaps?

There’s a lot going on in the world of Starfield. Its full launch saw over 1 million concurrent players. Players are using Starfield’s ship creator to recreate famous vessels from the likes of Star Wars, Serenity, and Star Trek, and many hidden references to other games like Skyrim have already been discovered. Savvy speedrunners have even figured out how to complete it in under three hours.

However, if you’re still just getting started, here are all the things to do first in Starfield.

IGN’s review explains the pull to seek out Starfield’s “immense amount of quality roleplaying quests and interesting NPCs” is strong, despite a rough start and some core aggravations.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.