After leaving Bethesda, senior system designer Bruce Nesmith has revealed some of the design discussions had by the team during the development of Starfield. The ex-Starfield dev explains his belief that the RPG would be better if it was restricted “to around two dozen solar systems".
In an interview with MinnMax, Nesmith spoke to Ben Hanson for almost two hours regarding his career at Bethesda. In the interview, the developer discussed the development of Starfield and even the next Elder Scrolls game. As the topic of designing space in Starfield comes up, Bruce echoed many players' thoughts that the game may simply be too large.
"There was a lot of discussion about the size of the game", he explained. "At one point, I said that the game would be a lot better if we restricted ourselves to about two dozen solar systems, and focus on them." It's a sentiment that some players have shared since the game's release in September, despite the game earning plenty of praise for its other mechanics.
Players may have Todd Howard to thank for the additional 96 solar systems in the final game, as Nesmith goes on to add that "Todd pretty much pulled the number 100 for the number of star systems out of thin air."
Most of the core activity in Starfield does end up happening in around two dozen systems, so it seems players got the best of both worlds - two dozen fleshed-out solar systems, and nearly a hundred more to explore.
Like No Man's Sky before it, procedural generation makes Starfield's size much more achievable. As Nesmith explains it, "the point was made, quite legitimately, that once you've done one solar system, doing a hundred [...] doesn't add to your work all that much".
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Many self-described Bethesda fans will readily admit that the games' open worlds are what makes the experiences special, and that desire to keep making them bigger likely lead to the final planet count being over 1,000.