When it comes to open-world RPGs, Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield provide some of the most immersive experiences available to gamers. However, these expansive RPGs have faced considerable criticism for launching with hundreds of bugs that can break quests, soft-lock players, and more. While Bethesda is not alone in this issue, the studio is among the most notorious.
In an interview with VideoGamer.com, Bruce Nesmith, Lead Designer of Skyrim, Systems Designer for Starfield, and author of Mischief Maker, explained that game developers are aware of the majority of bugs present in shipped games. After years of QA testing, many unfixed bugs are documented and logged, but achieving a “bug-free release” is impossible.
A ‘bug-free’ Starfield was impossible.”
While discussing the reasons why Bethesda hasn’t switched to Unreal Engine, Nesmith explained that the complexity of Bethesda games makes it impossible to release an experience without bugs. With 40 years of game development experience, the former Bethesda developer noted that developers typically know which bugs affect their games at launch.
“When a developer releases a game, they are aware of all the issues it has; these aren’t mysteries,” Nesmith explained. “I mean, every now and then, you encounter a bug that’s like, ‘Holy s**t, I didn’t know that was going to happen,’ but for the most part, you know about them.
“[Games are] so large and complex, particularly Bethesda games, because there are so many working elements trying to interact with one another that having a bug-free release is impossible. There is no game on the market that is bug-free.”
The Bethesda Advantage
Nesmith explained that modern games, with millions of lines of code, will inevitably have bugs, especially given the systems-driven nature of Bethesda titles. As dynamic worlds, Bethesda games face countless potential issues, and many of them do occur.
During the releases of Skyrim and even Fallout 4, Bethesda enjoyed a considerable amount of forgiveness for its technical shortcomings. However, that tolerance has waned, and gamers now expect a higher level of polish.
“I will be the first to admit that Bethesda games could benefit from a greater degree of polish,” Nesmith stated. “We benefited, and I benefited during my time there, from offering such a wide and varied gameplay experience that a certain lack of polish could be overlooked. For example, having an NPC run in place in front of a wall for a while became acceptable because of the 17 things you could do with that NPC, whereas in most games, you’d only have two options.
At some point, months of bug fixes become a cost that can’t be sustained. Eventually, the game must be released, and the round of post-launch bug fixing begins. By that time, developers already have a list of bugs that need to be addressed, but those fixes come later.
“That level of polish also comes at a price,” we were told. “Are you willing to let the game sit for another six months and delay its release in order to try to polish it? You still won’t achieve perfection; it will just be better. So, at some point, you have to make the decision to publish something that you know has bugs. You have a list of them—all 700 or so—and they will be out there anyway because I can’t fix them all.
The Expectation of Perfection
In our interview, we posed a question to Nesmith: if there’s a list of 700 known bugs, should those bugs be shared with fans at launch to manage expectations? As the lead designer of Skyrim explained, it’s an interesting dilemma: will fans accept that certain issues exist, or will they be upset that those issues aren’t fixed?
“It’s an interesting problem because, when you’re in marketing, your goal is to manage expectations,” Nesmith said. “Players expect the game to be flawless, with no bugs. That is their expectation. You don’t have to like it, but it’s there. And you aren’t going to achieve it. So what marketing has to do is figure out how to get as close as possible to that expectation. How can we ensure that these players don’t hate us for what’s wrong and love us for what’s right?”
In a game as vast as Skyrim, Fallout, or Starfield, bug fixing becomes an even bigger task than many gamers anticipate. As Nesmith explains, a bug where an NPC phases through a wall could be related to any number of factors. For instance, a wall’s collision might not be set up correctly, but there are thousands of walls to check. In a game with procedural generation like Starfield, that task becomes even more challenging.
Despite its technical issues, Bethesda has spent the past year addressing problems and adding new content to Starfield. The sci-fi RPG has just seen its first expansion, Shattered Space, and the addition of land vehicles has made exploring even the most barren planets more enjoyable. However, there is still much work to be done, and the RPG studio isn’t abandoning Starfield anytime soon.
With The Elder Scrolls 6 deep in development, all eyes are on Bethesda once again. Can the studio replicate the massive hype of 2011’s Skyrim? Will it release with hundreds of bugs? The latter is likely, as we’ve just explained: no game is bug-free. But will fans’ expectations be kept in check?