Ex-Bethesda loremaster and Skyrim lead says Starfield's main problem was not enough Todd Howard: "When he would get pulled away from the game that would really hurt the game"

Starfield.

The winds were in favor for Starfield to be another generational RPG from the genre titans at Bethesda - industry maestro Todd Howard was in charge, it had an enormous budget with most estimates tripling that of Skyrim's, and the developers had more time to work on it than any previous Bethesda title - but there's no denying that its legacy pales in comparison to games like Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind.

Former Bethesda loremaster and Skyrim co-lead designer Kurt Kuhlmann, who was around until about the time Starfield released, says that's because Bethesda Game Studios simply got too big for lead developers like Todd Howard to manage while also having direct, hands-on input on the game.