Released several years ago, Starfield by Bethesda Game Studios attracted attention at launch, but performed worse than The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in the 'long run'. Former Bethesda lead systems designer Kurt Kuhlmann shared his thoughts on the prospect of a sequel during a conversation with FRVR.
According to the specialist, the release of a hypothetical Starfield 2 is an unlikely event — he believes that the original game was not successful enough to approve the production of a full-fledged sequel:
I would be very surprised [if a sequel came out]. I don't think Starfield even came close to the level of success needed to create Starfield 2. In a way, I'm sorry, because with the lessons learned from Starfield, a sequel could have come much closer to the original concept that Todd [Howard] envisioned. This game can be imagined — but the released Starfield does not match [that image].
As an example of Starfield's unrealized potential, the developer cited the outpost building system:
As a separate, self-contained mechanic — it's cool, but it's not nearly as well integrated into the main game.
Kuhlmann asks the question, “if we're not going to integrate this into the story, maybe we shouldn't have included [the system in the game]?” The result was a separate system that consumed a lot of resources.
The latest Starfield expansion - Terran Armada was released in April and received many negative reviews from players on Steam.