Many websites and YouTube channels will be unable to review Starfield for several weeks, as Bethesda refuses to send out advanced copies.
Publishers withholding review copies before launch is not unusual, just as it’s not unheard of for film companies not to show a movie in advance for critics. But there’s usually only one thing that means and everyone, including reviewers and the general public, know it: the game is no good.
Despite us having been in contact with Bethesda for several weeks we do not have a review copy yet and have only been promised one ‘at the end of the month.’ We now suspect that will not be until Thursday, August 31, as we understand the general review embargo is on Thursday at 5pm BST.sites do seem to have review copies and it is specifically the UK that has been denied them. No explanation has been given as to why.
Eurogamer is in the same position as us and likely every other UK website that does not have a US arm or affiliate. We weren’t certain how widespread the issue was until EurogamerThe Guardian and Edge haven’t been sent copies either.]around seven years agoThere was never any proper explanation for that either, although it was assumed that they simply wanted to avoid the possibility of negative reviews before a game’s launch.
They eventually realised that this was counterproductive and went back to acting normally but since many Bethesda execs have been at the company for decades it’s clear that many resent the idea of allowing advanced reviews and still want to disrupt the practice. The Guardian has also not received review code for Starfield, fwiw – I have no idea why, but given that I was editor at Kotaku for years and Bethesda famously were not fans of ours, I can make an educated guess.
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