And by that he means next-generation in terms of the hardware it's being developed on and in the gameplay itself. Speaking with Eurogamer, Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard notes that its upcoming sci-fi epic Starfield is being developed as a next-generation single-player RPG - in the sense that it is being designed to carry the Elder Scrolls and Fallout style of game forward.

"What does the next generation of epic single-player RPGs feel like to us?" Todd states. "What systems we put it out on - what's the hardware requirements - is still to be determined. We're pushing it; we're thinking very, very far in future so we're building something that will handle next-generation hardware. That's what we're building on right now, that's where our mind is, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't exist on the current systems as well."



That last bit is telling in that there's a good chance that Starfield could end up on current consoles in addition to whatever comes next for Xbox and PlayStation. In the interview Todd Howard went on to note that Starfield features new systems that the team has been thinking about for a while, and that the game is currently in a playable state.