IGN was lucky enough to speak to Bethesda Game Studios' Todd Howard today and, in the process learned a lot more about Starfield – not to mention heard a mention of Fallout's future.

In conversation with Ryan McCaffrey, Howard followed up on a number of elements we learned about for first time during Starfield's gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase last weekend. We have full news stories and quotes for every topic mentioned, linked below, but here's a quick rundown of everything new we learned.

Todd Howard Confirms Fallout 5 Is Coming After Elder Scrolls 6

Todd Howard has confirmed to IGN that Fallout 5 will be Bethesda Game Studios' next game after The Elder Scrolls 6, which itself will follow on from 2023's Starfield.

"Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production," he said, "and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while. We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well."

Starfield Includes More Handcrafted Content Than Any Bethesda Game, Alongside Its Procedural Galaxy

Amid a huge amount of new information on Starfield from the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, likely the most-discussed detail was Todd Howard's announcement that the upcoming sci-fi RPG will include 1,000 fully explorable planets. Howard told us more about the game's approach to procedural generation, what it offers, and assured us that players can ignore them in favour of a huge amount of fully handcrafted content, if they want to.

Starfield’s Main Quest Is About 20% Bigger than Previous Bethesda Games, Around 30-40 Hours Long

Starfield's main quest is about 20% bigger than previous Bethesda games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4, with Todd Howard saying that means it should take around 30 to 40 hours to complete – without stepping away to do side content.

Howard said the game's main story is longer than normal due to the sheer number of quests: "This one’s ending up a little bit longer [than our previous games] and we may tune that some still," he said. "It’s more quests, so it might be 20% more than our previous ones."

Yes, Starfield Will Begin With a Classic Bethesda 'Step-Out Moment'

Bethesda's open world RPGs may vary wildly in setting and tone, but they very often share one thing – what Bethesda calls the 'step-out moment', the scene in which your character steps into the world properly, and sees its sheer scale. Starfield won't be bucking that trend.

Howard was asked if Starfield had a step-out moment, and how it would create a grand reveal of its world considering it includes 1,000 different planets: "There is. Look, the way the game starts is pretty set for everybody, so we definitely have what we call the 'step-out moment'. And we probably have a few of them given the scale of the game."

Starfield Has 4 Main Cities, and New Atlantis Is the Biggest City Bethesda’s Ever Made

Starfield will have four major cities for players to explore, including New Atlantis, which is the biggest that developer Bethesda has ever made. Howard said that New Atlantis, capital city of the United Colonies, is not just the biggest in this game but bigger than anything in Skyrim, Fallout 4, or any of the developer's previous games.

"It has all the services you would expect, and you can work on your ship there, the factions touch that," Howard said. "But that’s also the headquarters for Constellation, which is the faction that you join that is the last group of space explorers – kind of this NASA-meets-Indiana Jones-meets-The League of Extraordinary Gentleman [group]."

Starfield Doesn’t Let You Fly Seamlessly from Space to Planet: ‘That’s Really Just Not that Important’

Todd Howard has said that Starfield won't allow you to fly seamlessly from space to its 1,000 explorable planets, saying the feature is "really just not that important to the player" to justify the engineering work involved.

"People have asked, ‘Can you fly the ship straight down to the planet?’ No. We decided early in the project that the on-surface is one reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality."

Starfield’s Space Combat Is ‘Unique’, and Inspired By FTL and MechWarrior

Todd Howard said Starfield features a unique take on space combat, and that was partly inspired by FTL and MechWarrior. And yes, you can steal ships that you board.

Howard said "there's been a lot space sims that we're fans of, and space shooters from the '90s," but the team wanted Starfield "to feel [like] something unique". He went on to explain how both indie darling FTL and classic shooter MechWarrior were unlikely touchstones for the game.

During the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, Howard revealed the game will have more than one thousand planets for players to explore, what feels like just as many customisation options, and Star Wars-esque dogfighting in space.

Players are also speculating whether our own Solar System will be a plot point in the game but Bethesda has at least confirmed some story details thanks to a new trailer, though fans will no doubt continue analysing and speculating about Starfield until it is finally released in 2023.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

IGN was lucky enough to speak to Bethesda Game Studios' Todd Howard today and, in the process learned a lot more about Starfield – not to mention heard a mention of Fallout's future.

In conversation with Ryan McCaffrey, Howard followed up on a number of elements we learned about for first time during Starfield's gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase last weekend. We have full news stories and quotes for every topic mentioned, linked below, but here's a quick rundown of everything new we learned.

Todd Howard Confirms Fallout 5 Is Coming After Elder Scrolls 6

Todd Howard has confirmed to IGN that Fallout 5 will be Bethesda Game Studios' next game after The Elder Scrolls 6, which itself will follow on from 2023's Starfield.

"Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production," he said, "and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while. We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well."

Starfield Includes More Handcrafted Content Than Any Bethesda Game, Alongside Its Procedural Galaxy

Amid a huge amount of new information on Starfield from the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, likely the most-discussed detail was Todd Howard's announcement that the upcoming sci-fi RPG will include 1,000 fully explorable planets. Howard told us more about the game's approach to procedural generation, what it offers, and assured us that players can ignore them in favour of a huge amount of fully handcrafted content, if they want to.

Starfield’s Main Quest Is About 20% Bigger than Previous Bethesda Games, Around 30-40 Hours Long

Starfield's main quest is about 20% bigger than previous Bethesda games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4, with Todd Howard saying that means it should take around 30 to 40 hours to complete – without stepping away to do side content.

Howard said the game's main story is longer than normal due to the sheer number of quests: "This one’s ending up a little bit longer [than our previous games] and we may tune that some still," he said. "It’s more quests, so it might be 20% more than our previous ones."

Yes, Starfield Will Begin With a Classic Bethesda 'Step-Out Moment'

Bethesda's open world RPGs may vary wildly in setting and tone, but they very often share one thing – what Bethesda calls the 'step-out moment', the scene in which your character steps into the world properly, and sees its sheer scale. Starfield won't be bucking that trend.

Howard was asked if Starfield had a step-out moment, and how it would create a grand reveal of its world considering it includes 1,000 different planets: "There is. Look, the way the game starts is pretty set for everybody, so we definitely have what we call the 'step-out moment'. And we probably have a few of them given the scale of the game."

Starfield Has 4 Main Cities, and New Atlantis Is the Biggest City Bethesda’s Ever Made

Starfield will have four major cities for players to explore, including New Atlantis, which is the biggest that developer Bethesda has ever made. Howard said that New Atlantis, capital city of the United Colonies, is not just the biggest in this game but bigger than anything in Skyrim, Fallout 4, or any of the developer's previous games.

"It has all the services you would expect, and you can work on your ship there, the factions touch that," Howard said. "But that’s also the headquarters for Constellation, which is the faction that you join that is the last group of space explorers – kind of this NASA-meets-Indiana Jones-meets-The League of Extraordinary Gentleman [group]."

Starfield Doesn’t Let You Fly Seamlessly from Space to Planet: ‘That’s Really Just Not that Important’

Todd Howard has said that Starfield won't allow you to fly seamlessly from space to its 1,000 explorable planets, saying the feature is "really just not that important to the player" to justify the engineering work involved.

"People have asked, ‘Can you fly the ship straight down to the planet?’ No. We decided early in the project that the on-surface is one reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality."

Starfield’s Space Combat Is ‘Unique’, and Inspired By FTL and MechWarrior

Todd Howard said Starfield features a unique take on space combat, and that was partly inspired by FTL and MechWarrior. And yes, you can steal ships that you board.

Howard said "there's been a lot space sims that we're fans of, and space shooters from the '90s," but the team wanted Starfield "to feel [like] something unique". He went on to explain how both indie darling FTL and classic shooter MechWarrior were unlikely touchstones for the game.

During the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, Howard revealed the game will have more than one thousand planets for players to explore, what feels like just as many customisation options, and Star Wars-esque dogfighting in space.

Players are also speculating whether our own Solar System will be a plot point in the game but Bethesda has at least confirmed some story details thanks to a new trailer, though fans will no doubt continue analysing and speculating about Starfield until it is finally released in 2023.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Todd Howard has confirmed to IGN that Fallout 5 will be Bethesda Game Studios' next game after The Elder Scrolls 6, which itself will follow on from 2023's Starfield.

Speaking to IGN about last weekend's Starfield gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, Howard briefly delved into what's next for his studio once the new IP is out of the door:

"Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while. We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well."

Howard has told IGN previously that the studio has an idea for Fallout 5 in place, saying, "Fallout's really part of our DNA here. We've worked with other [developers] from time to time – I can't say say what's gonna happen. You know, we have a one-pager on Fallout 5, what we want to do." However, Howard hadn't confirmed that it would definitely be on the way after The Elder Scrolls 6.

Of course, at Bethesda's current pace of production, it will still likely be many years before we see what Fallout 5 actually is. In today's interview, Howard confirmed that work started on Starfield in late 2015, meaning it will be over 7 years from start to finish when the game arrives. The last mainline Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim, arrived in 2011, and with the sequel still in pre-production, we likely have years to go before we see that one too. We learned previously that The Elder Scrolls 6 was pushed back because the team wanted to make Starfield first.

Howard acknowledged the long waits for his fan-favorite games, implying he's as frustrated as those waiting to play them: "They do take a while, I wish they came out faster, I really do, we’re trying as hard as we can, but we want them to be as best as they can be for everybody."

Fallout 4 was released in 2015, followed by a less beloved multiplayer spin-off, Fallout 76. Starfield is finally feeling close after many years in development, and the first gameplay reveal showed off combat, introduced customization, and even hinted at a visit to Earth and our Solar System.

The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced in 2018, but we know very little about it despite some hints in the original teaser. What we can guess is that it will be an Xbox exclusive, after comments from Head of Xbox Phil Spencer.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Todd Howard has confirmed to IGN that Fallout 5 will be Bethesda Game Studios' next game after The Elder Scrolls 6, which itself will follow on from 2023's Starfield.

Speaking to IGN about last weekend's Starfield gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, Howard briefly delved into what's next for his studio once the new IP is out of the door:

"Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while. We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well."

Howard has told IGN previously that the studio has an idea for Fallout 5 in place, saying, "Fallout's really part of our DNA here. We've worked with other [developers] from time to time – I can't say say what's gonna happen. You know, we have a one-pager on Fallout 5, what we want to do." However, Howard hadn't confirmed that it would definitely be on the way after The Elder Scrolls 6.

Of course, at Bethesda's current pace of production, it will still likely be many years before we see what Fallout 5 actually is. In today's interview, Howard confirmed that work started on Starfield in late 2015, meaning it will be over 7 years from start to finish when the game arrives. The last mainline Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim, arrived in 2011, and with the sequel still in pre-production, we likely have years to go before we see that one too. We learned previously that The Elder Scrolls 6 was pushed back because the team wanted to make Starfield first.

Howard acknowledged the long waits for his fan-favorite games, implying he's as frustrated as those waiting to play them: "They do take a while, I wish they came out faster, I really do, we’re trying as hard as we can, but we want them to be as best as they can be for everybody."

Fallout 4 was released in 2015, followed by a less beloved multiplayer spin-off, Fallout 76. Starfield is finally feeling close after many years in development, and the first gameplay reveal showed off combat, introduced customization, and even hinted at a visit to Earth and our Solar System.

The Edler Scrolls 6 was announced in 2018, but we know very little about it despite some hints in the original teaser. What we can guess is that it will be an Xbox exclusive, after comments from Head of Xbox Phil Spencer.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Todd Howard has said that Starfield won't allow you to fly seamlessly from space to its 1,000 explorable planets, saying the feature is "really just not that important to the player" to justify the engineering work involved.

Speaking to IGN after the gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, we asked Howard about his philosophy of 'saying yes to the player', and whether that meant the team had tried to implement every single idea it had for the game. Howard explained that, while the philosophy was key to things like procedurally generating 100 solar systems (allowing players to explore more freely than in previous Bethesda games), the team did say no to ideas that weren't deemed as crucial to the experience. He gave a key example:

"People have asked, ‘Can you fly the ship straight down to the planet?’ No. We decided early in the project that the on-surface is one reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality."

After the Starfield reveal, many commented on the game's seeming similarities to fellow space exploration game No Man's Sky – to the point where the older game trended on Twitter. However, seamless planet landings were a big part of No Man's Sky's pitch ahead of release, helping sell an idea that you were exploring a single, gigantic open space.

Howard, however, saw a different need for Starfield, explaining that the time spent making that feature work didn't offer the pay-off the team was looking for in terms of quality:

"If you try to really spend a lot of time engineering the in-between, like that segue, you’re just spending a lot of time [on something] that’s really just not that important to the player," Howard reasoned. "So let’s make sure it’s awesome when you’re on the surface and awesome when you’re in space, and those realities look and play as good as they can be."

As we learned during Sunday's showcase, the game will feature over 1,000 planets to land on and explore, one of which may well be Earth. Starfield will arrive for Xbox and PC in 2023, and the first gameplay reveal showed off combat, and introduced customization among many other things.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Todd Howard has said that Starfield won't allow you to fly seamlessly from space to its 1,000 explorable planets, saying the feature is "really just not that important to the player" to justify the engineering work involved.

Speaking to IGN after the gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, we asked Howard about his philosophy of 'saying yes to the player', and whether that meant the team had tried to implement every single idea it had for the game. Howard explained that, while the philosophy was key to things like procedurally generating 100 solar systems (allowing players to explore more freely than in previous Bethesda games), the team did say no to ideas that weren't deemed as crucial to the experience. He gave a key example:

"People have asked, ‘Can you fly the ship straight down to the planet?’ No. We decided early in the project that the on-surface is one reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality."

After the Starfield reveal, many commented on the game's seeming similarities to fellow space exploration game No Man's Sky – to the point where the older game trended on Twitter. However, seamless planet landings were a big part of No Man's Sky's pitch ahead of release, helping sell an idea that you were exploring a single, gigantic open space.

Howard, however, saw a different need for Starfield, explaining that the time spent making that feature work didn't offer the pay-off the team was looking for in terms of quality:

"If you try to really spend a lot of time engineering the in-between, like that segue, you’re just spending a lot of time [on something] that’s really just not that important to the player," Howard reasoned. "So let’s make sure it’s awesome when you’re on the surface and awesome when you’re in space, and those realities look and play as good as they can be."

As we learned during Sunday's showcase, the game will feature over 1,000 planets to land on and explore, one of which may well be Earth. Starfield will arrive for Xbox and PC in 2023, and the first gameplay reveal showed off combat, and introduced customization among many other things.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Starfield's main quest is about 20% bigger than previous Bethesda games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4, with Todd Howard saying that means it should take around 30 to 40 hours to complete – without stepping away to do side content.

Speaking to IGN after the gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, Bethesda veteran and Starfield director Todd Howard said the game's main story is longer than normal due to the sheer number of quests.

"This one’s ending up a little bit longer [than our previous games] and we may tune that some still," he said. "It’s more quests, so it might be 20% more than our previous ones."

While players mileage may vary, he added, with some taking longer than others to complete it, if the main quest of a previous game was pegged at 25 hours, Starfield's "might be in the 30s, maybe 40", Howard said. As a point of comparison, IGN sister site How Long To Beat estimates that the Skyrim Special Edition sees players take 25.5 hours to complete the main quest, while Fallout 4 takes around 27 hours.

Powering through the main quest isn't how Bethesda games are typically played, of course, with side quests, faction routes to explore, base-building, and so on diverting the players attention, and Starfield will be the same as previous titles in that respect. In fact, it should offer considerably more content in the form of 1000 fully explorable planets, which will offer procedurally generated content that no one player will feasibly ever see all of.

Howard believes the modding community will keep Starfield fresh for a long time, even on top of DLC expansions Bethesda will inevitably create.

"We've learned that people do play our games for a really, really long time," he said. "They're still playing Skyrim - not straight for 10 years, but they leave it and they come back and there's extra content. Certainly we're going to be doing extra content for this game, and we love our modding community. We actually think this game, for our modding community, is going to be a dream as there’s so much they could do."

Howard revealed the first deep dive into the gameplay of Starfield during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12. He revealed the game will have more than one thousand planets for players to explore, what feels like just as many customisation options, and Star Wars-esque dogfighting in space.

Players are also speculating whether our own Solar System will be a plot point in the game but Bethesda has at least confirmed some story details thanks to a new trailer, though fans will no doubt continue analysing and speculating about Starfield until it is finally released in 2023.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Starfield's main quest is about 20% bigger than previous Bethesda games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4, with Todd Howard saying that means it should take around 30 to 40 hours to complete – without stepping away to do side content.

Speaking to IGN after the gameplay reveal at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase, Bethesda veteran and Starfield director Todd Howard said the game's main story is longer than normal due to the sheer number of quests.

"This one’s ending up a little bit longer [than our previous games] and we may tune that some still," he said. "It’s more quests, so it might be 20% more than our previous ones."

While players mileage may vary, he added, with some taking longer than others to complete it, if the main quest of a previous game was pegged at 25 hours, Starfield's "might be in the 30s, maybe 40", Howard said. As a point of comparison, IGN sister site How Long To Beat estimates that the Skyrim Special Edition sees players take 25.5 hours to complete the main quest, while Fallout 4 takes around 27 hours.

Powering through the main quest isn't how Bethesda games are typically played, of course, with side quests, faction routes to explore, base-building, and so on diverting the players attention, and Starfield will be the same as previous titles in that respect. In fact, it should offer considerably more content in the form of 1000 fully explorable planets, which will offer procedurally generated content that no one player will feasibly ever see all of.

Howard believes the modding community will keep Starfield fresh for a long time, even on top of DLC expansions Bethesda will inevitably create.

"We've learned that people do play our games for a really, really long time," he said. "They're still playing Skyrim - not straight for 10 years, but they leave it and they come back and there's extra content. Certainly we're going to be doing extra content for this game, and we love our modding community. We actually think this game, for our modding community, is going to be a dream as there’s so much they could do."

Howard revealed the first deep dive into the gameplay of Starfield during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12. He revealed the game will have more than one thousand planets for players to explore, what feels like just as many customisation options, and Star Wars-esque dogfighting in space.

Players are also speculating whether our own Solar System will be a plot point in the game but Bethesda has at least confirmed some story details thanks to a new trailer, though fans will no doubt continue analysing and speculating about Starfield until it is finally released in 2023.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Starfield will have four major cities for players to explore, including New Atlantis, which is the biggest that developer Bethesda has ever made.

Speaking to IGN, Bethesda veteran and Starfield director Todd Howard said that New Atlantis, capital city of the United Colonies, is not just the biggest in this game but bigger than anything in Skyrim, Fallout 4, or any of the developer's previous games.

Fans had a brief preview of New Atlantis during Starfield's gameplay reveal (at around six minutes in) at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase. "It has all the services you would expect, and you can work on your ship there, the factions touch that," Howard said.

"But that’s also the headquarters for Constellation, which is the faction that you join that is the last group of space explorers – kind of this NASA-meets-Indiana Jones-meets-The League of Extraordinary Gentleman [group]."

Howard explained that Starfield's main quest - which he also said would be longer than any previous Bethesda game at between 30 and 40 hours long - will mostly take place in partnership with Constellation, and thus through New Atlantis. The city will feature much more than that, of course, as plenty of side quests will also start and take place there. As the capital city of the United Colonies faction, it will seemingly also serve as a starting point for that questline too.

During the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, Howard revealed the game will have more than one thousand planets for players to explore, what feels like just as many customisation options, and Star Wars-esque dogfighting in space.

Players are also speculating whether our own Solar System will be a plot point in the game but Bethesda has at least confirmed some story details thanks to a new trailer, though fans will no doubt continue analysing and speculating about Starfield until it is finally released in 2023.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Starfield will have four major cities for players to explore, including New Atlantis, which is the biggest that developer Bethesda has ever made.

Speaking to IGN, Bethesda veteran and Starfield director Todd Howard said that New Atlantis, capital city of the United Colonies, is not just the biggest in this game but bigger than anything in Skyrim, Fallout 4, or any of the developer's previous games.

Fans had a brief preview of New Atlantis during Starfield's gameplay reveal (at around six minutes in) at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase. "It has all the services you would expect, and you can work on your ship there, the factions touch that," Howard said.

"But that’s also the headquarters for Constellation, which is the faction that you join that is the last group of space explorers – kind of this NASA-meets-Indiana Jones-meets-The League of Extraordinary Gentleman [group]."

Howard explained that Starfield's main quest - which he also said would be longer than any previous Bethesda game at between 30 and 40 hours long - will mostly take place in partnership with Constellation, and thus through New Atlantis. The city will feature much more than that, of course, as plenty of side quests will also start and take place there. As the capital city of the United Colonies faction, it will seemingly also serve as a starting point for that questline too.

During the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, Howard revealed the game will have more than one thousand planets for players to explore, what feels like just as many customisation options, and Star Wars-esque dogfighting in space.

Players are also speculating whether our own Solar System will be a plot point in the game but Bethesda has at least confirmed some story details thanks to a new trailer, though fans will no doubt continue analysing and speculating about Starfield until it is finally released in 2023.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.