New rumors about Starfield's next DLC and space flight overhaul emerge, so maybe 2025 won't be a total bust after all

Big things were promised for Starfield this year, but they simply haven't materialized. Teasers for a new DLC and some big gameplay changes rekindled my excitement for Bethesda's galactic RPG, but with less than two weeks of the year left, it appears we're not going to be getting what we hoped for. However, it might not be too much longer until we at least see what Bethesda's been cooking up. New rumors claim that Bethesda has hosted an in-person event showcasing Starfield's future updates, but opinion seems to be split on just how transformative they'll be for the game.

While it absolutely fell beneath the bar set by Skyrim and Fallout 4, Starfield isn't a bad videogame. Judge me all you like, but I happily chucked well over 100 hours into it in my attempts to explore every planet, see the world in new ways through new game plus, build settlements and ships, and ensure I'd rinsed all of Bethesda's actually hand-crafted content, which is still of a fairly strong standard. However, with some improvements, rethinks, and just more of the stuff that Bethesda does well injected into it, it could start to challenge its predecessors.

Back in March, "exciting things" were promised for 2025. We did get an early tease of the next expansion, which appears to be called Terran Armada, and Bethesda veteran Tim Lamb had this to say about upcoming updates to the base game: "Part of the team has been focused on space gameplay to make [your] travels there more rewarding. We're also adding some new game systems, and a few other smaller delights." However, neither the DLC nor the gameplay changes have been fully revealed or arrived in-game. With reports of this new preview event, though, perhaps there is time for Bethesda to sneak a reveal in before the year is out.

Windows Central's Jez Corden and sleuths such as Luke Stephens both have sources claiming that an event, seemingly led by Todd Howard, has taken place to showcase everything coming to Starfield. One of the big gameplay improvements being reported is "more free-form and continuous" space travel, in Corden's words, which is much less reliant on loading screens. To enable this, Bethesda has reportedly made some big upgrades to the Creation Engine, and those benefits will of course be felt for the likes of The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 in the future.

However, both Corden and Stephens' sources seem divided on the impact that these kinds of changes will have. Some are touting it as 'Starfield 2.0,' and a moment that could change perceptions of the game, similar to Cyberpunk 2077's change of fortunes post-launch. Others say that fans should "temper expectations."

As for the DLC, opinion again seems split on when it'll land. Corden reports that, while it was initially planned to drop in 2025, Microsoft's busy end to the year and Rockstar's GTA 6 release date delay have given Bethesda the confidence to release the expansion in the first half of 2026. However, 'DetectiveSeeds' on X, who also leaked information about the Starfield event yesterday, claims the DLC will be in the latter half of next year, but "sooner than fall."

All of this is to say that there is quite a lot up in the air and conflicting reports, so don't take anything you see here as the gospel truth. One thing we can be fairly confident in, however, is that some kind of preview event took place, and that suggests that news and first looks of Starfield's 2026 plans could be very close indeed.