Starfield creator Bethesda Game Studios is helping to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Mid-Atlantic chapter’s Evening of Wishes: Hope from Home auction by donating an eye-catching prize: the chance for the auction’s winner to create a character in the studio’s anticipated science-fiction title. Starfield was first announced during Bethesda’s E3 showcase back in 2018 standing alongside games like Rage 2, Doom Eternal, and the company's long-awaited next entry in the Elder Scrolls series. However, like The Elder Scrolls VI, Starfield’s E3 reveal consisted of a short trailer that showed off little of the actual game.
In the years that followed Starfield's announcement, the company has not greatly expanded fan’s knowledge of what to expect for the title. After the news hit last month that Bethesda had been tapped to work on the new Indiana Jones game, many worried that games like Starfield would be pushed back. Bethesda’s Pete Hines was quick to assure players after the announcement that the publisher and developer was still focused on its other new IP. This sentiment has recently been backed by one industry insider who claims to have reason to believe Starfield could be coming out during the latter half of this year.
In a surprising social media post, Bethesda revealed that it has donated a bundle to the Make-A-Wish Foundation's auction. The highest bidder for the company’s package will have the opportunity to make a character for Starfield. In addition, the auction winner will walk away with an Xbox Series X, recalling that Bethesda recently announced that it would be acquired by the console’s creators, and sixteen titles from the studio. Several of the games seem to come from some of Bethesda’s most popular franchises including The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, and Doom. At the time of writing, the ongoing bidding for the Bethesda bundle is just north of $2,000. Interestingly, the auction’s website goes into slightly more detail about what the winner can expect than the studio's post. It states that the highest bidder can look forward to working with the team behind the game, naming Todd Howard specifically, and that the winner should expect to “schedule time to create the character within 3 months of 2/28/2021.”
However intriguing this auction prize may be, it still does not give fans much more concrete details about the game itself. There may be some news on the horizon, though. Jeff Grubb, noted industry insider, hinted on his podcast last week that Microsoft may currently be planning an event in which the company will discuss its intentions for Bethesda. There has been no official word about this from either company, however.
The Make-A-Wish auction page seems to have revealed an interesting, though admittedly very small, detail about the game’s development. Starfield creators will reach out to schedule developing this prize character with the auction winner in the months following the end of February. That is not much to go on but it doesn't rule out a release date for the end of this year. Hopefully, there will be a press event from either Microsoft or Bethesda soon that will tell fans a little bit more.
Source: Bethesda