An hour after this blog post, Eurogamer received Starfield review code from Bethesda. As mentioned below, our review won’t be complete until after embargo – but we can start working now to give you Eurogamer’s take on the game.
No publisher is required to provide us with a copy of their game, but it is important that we can make it clear to you, our readers, that this will introduce delays to the Eurogamer coverage you have come to expect, especially since this copy is This game abounds elsewhere, especially in the United States.
Access to the game appears to be severely restricted in the UK, and Bethesda has failed to provide copies of Starfield to other websites and YouTube channels run by Eurogamer parent company Reedpop. Meanwhile, a number of other UK branches have gained access to Bethesda’s US branch.
I’ve spent hours trying to bring this up with Bethesda over the past two weeks since copies of the game have been made available to the press, and the matter has been reported multiple times to top Bethesda and Microsoft executives.
I’ve been told Eurogamer will get a copy at some point, but even if that happened today, we’d be too far away to review such a massive RPG at the same time as other media this week.
In the end, postponing Eurogamer’s visit to Starfield means you’re postponing our judgement. It also means our reviews will join key industry consensus at a later date, following Bethesda’s initial selection of stores. Rest assured, though, that Eurogamer’s Starfield review will be published once we’re able to give this important release the game time it deserves.
The same applies to our travel guide reports. Our talented and hard-working team of guides will continue to cover Starfield with the depth and detail it has earned – just later than we’d like.
Finally, a note on Digital Foundry. You can expect Rich and his team to report on the game in a relatively timely manner and get Starfield codes shipped separately. However, this was provided to me along with Bethesda’s instructions not granting access to other parts of Eurogamer. This was an unprecedented request, but one that I eventually had to comply to ensure access to Digital Foundry would not be compromised by other authorizations in the future.
Late review copies aren’t uncommon, but it’s extremely unusual to lag far behind many other media accesses – especially for Starfield’s illustrious game. Fortunately, Eurogamer has not encountered a similar situation in a long time, and such cases are also very rare in the industry. We look forward to playing Starfield and delivering the high quality and extensive coverage you expect and deserve.
