Todd Howard: Starfield lets players choose pronouns, dialogue changes accordingly

Starfield Ship Table
Starfield Ship Table (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

What you need to know

  • Bethesda Game Studios creative director Todd Howard took part in a Reddit AMA, sharing some tidbits on Starfield.
  • Howard explained that Starfield has expanded character creation, allowing players to choose pronouns, while the game's dialogue will adjust accordingly.
  • Howard also noted that the plan is for Starfield to support mods just like past Bethesda Game Studios titles.
  • Starfield is slated to arrive exclusively on Xbox Series X|S and PC on Nov. 11, 2022.

Bethesda Game Studios' upcoming science-fiction role-playing game Starfield is still a ways away, but creative director Todd Howard is sharing a few more interesting pieces of information for eager players on what could be one of the best Xbox games available. In a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Howard explained that Starfield has expanded character creation, allowing players to choose the pronouns they want, with the game's dialogue accommodating that choice.

"Really excited about what the team has done with character creation here," Howard writes. "Including choosing background, skills, etc. You also can pick your pronoun (he, she, they) and we've recorded all the relevant dialogue to support that choice."

Starfield features almost three times the dialogue of Skyrim, with a full Japanese localization at launch. Howard also noted that Starfield should have the same kind of mod support Bethesda Game Studios titles are known for, even though the studio is now using the Creation Engine 2.

"Our plan [is for it to] have full mod support like our previous games," Howard explains. "Our modding community has been with us for 20 years. We love what they do and hope to see more make a career out of it."

In a recent interview, Howard spoke on how Bethesda Game Studios' "passion" is for single-player games, even though the team may experiment with social or online elements. Speaking on the launch problems of Fallout 76, Howard explained on Reddit that "We let people down and were able to learn and be better from it. We're fortunate 3 years later to have 76 be one of our most played games, and it's thanks to the 11 million players who have made it an incredible community. It's made us much better developers in the end."

Starfield is currently slated to launch on Nov. 11, 2022. It's coming exclusively to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It's also launching day one in Xbox Game Pass, like all Xbox first-party titles.

Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.