Bethesda Confirms Starfield Space Travel Revamp After Leak

Bethesda has finally shared a glimpse of the upcoming changes coming to Starfield, confirming that space gameplay is getting improvements "to make exploration more rewarding."

Earlier this month, fans discovered code snippets hinting at a more streamlined space travel system, potentially still with some limitations. While travel within a star system might become more seamless, it appeared that flying directly between different systems or from a planet's surface into orbit—like in No Man's Sky—would not be possible.

Players found references to a "Cruise Mode" in the game's code and shared them on Reddit, though Bethesda reportedly released a small patch to remove these traces.

Now, in a new video about his career, veteran Bethesda developer Tim Lamb confirmed the studio has been working on Starfield's space gameplay and that a new story DLC is still in the pipeline.

"I'm really excited for players to see what the teams have been working on for Starfield," he said. "We have some great updates coming, including free features players have requested and a new story expansion.

"I can't share all the details yet, but part of the team has been focused on enhancing space gameplay to make travel more engaging. We're also introducing new game systems and some other pleasant surprises. Our verified creators are working on some really interesting projects, too. It's going to be fun.

"I just want to say thank you. We really appreciate the support and enthusiasm. We can't wait to get these updates into players' hands."

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Last month, Bethesda teased that "exciting things" were coming to Starfield soon—likely referring to these updates. However, Starfield was absent from gamescom 2025 last week, raising further questions among fans.

Earlier this month, reports suggested Starfield's second expansion and the highly anticipated PlayStation 5 port are now slated for 2026, following the mixed reception to 2024's Shattered Space DLC. Studio director Todd Howard had previously mentioned annual expansions, so Bethesda may view these spaceflight improvements as a way to keep players engaged in the meantime.

Starfield launched in September 2023 as Bethesda's first new IP in 25 years. While it attracted 15 million players, it didn't achieve the same acclaim as the studio's Fallout or The Elder Scrolls series. The Shattered Space expansion, released a year later in September 2024, currently holds a 'Mostly Negative' user review rating on Steam.

Since launch, there has been ongoing speculation about whether Bethesda might reduce support for Starfield to focus on other franchises. In June 2024, Bethesda reaffirmed its commitment to the game and confirmed at least one more story expansion would follow Shattered Space. In an interview with the YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, Todd Howard stated the goal was to release a story expansion annually for "hopefully a very long time."

Reflecting on Starfield's development, Lamb described the process as "like making four games at once."

"You have the on-foot combat, exploring and fighting aliens and space factions," he explained. "Then you have spaceflight, engaging in ship-to-ship combat. There's the ship builder element and the outpost building system. To me, developing Starfield felt like creating four distinct games simultaneously."