STARFIELD’S Collector’s Edition was revealed during the Starfield Direct in the summer showcases.
Shown directly after the Xbox Games Showcase, it was an hour-long deep dive into everything Starfield has to offer.
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Fans were blown away by the footage shown, including the vast open world of more than a thousand planets and moons.
There is deep customisation of your character, skills, weapons, and ships, as well as ways to adapt to your playstyle.
The team at Bethesda also revealed a number of official Starfield-related items.
There will be a Starfield-branded controller and headset, which are slightly more expensive than regular Xbox accessories.
These were both generally well received, with people not minding paying the extra cost for accessories with unique designs.
However, there was uproar over both the premium and collector’s editions of the game.
The premium edition is $30 (£30) more than the standard version, which is one of the largest increases we’ve seen for a premium edition of the game.
It also gives five-day early access, which is longer than most early access given with deluxe editions of games.
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This has become common in modern games, using several days of early access to push people into purchasing the more expensive edition.
Diablo 4 is one of the worst examples of this, as a competition was launched at the start of early access, which only rewarded the first 1k players.
There is also a seperate Premium Edition which comes with these extras but doesn’t include the game. But more on the ridiculousness of this later.
The next issue was the collector’s edition which is priced at an eye-watering $300 (£250).
It includes a replica of the watch seen in Starfield, and a plastic case in which to store it.
However, we’ve seen these huge physical rewards given with collector’s editions before, and they aren’t always the high quality that the price demands.
Some of the worst offenders include Dead Island 2 Riptide’s large, bloodied zombie torso, and Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite’s weirdly coloured eggs.
Bethesda itself isn’t innocent of this. There was a debacle caused by the ‘canvas’ bag that was originally included in the Fallout 76 collector’s edition.
Advertised as high-quality canvas, players received only a cheap nylon bag. This was rectified six-months later, but the damage to Bethesda’s reputation was already done.
Whether Starfield’s collectibles are high quality is yet to be seen, but even if they are, there is another issue.
The collector’s edition doesn’t include a physical copy of the game, only a digital download code.
Often people who choose to purchase collector’s editions are collectors, who usually want both the physical collectible items and a copy of the game itself.
These people often believe in collecting physical media, in having access to their purchases indefinitely, and preserving their games.
This digital download goes against this whole idea of collecting, and while not as egregious as Mass Effect Andromeda which had no game at all, isn’t what collectors want.
Collector’s editions can be incredible, and let people purchase goodies related to games they love that aren’t available elsewhere.
These things need to be thought out a bit more thoroughly to give consumers what they really want.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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