It would seem that the recent rumors that id Software was helping Bethesda out with combat in Starfield aren't true after all. Todd Howard discussed the rumors in a recent interview, where he explained what exactly the studio behind Doom and Wolfenstein was assisting the Skyrim and Fallout developer with.
The curious bit is that the leak about id Software helping with Starfield's combat seemed promising for the game's core gameplay loop, and the recent Xbox Games Showcase did feature substantially improved combat gameplay, which underlined the idea that the partnership was bearing fruit. According to Howard, however, this isn't the case, and his studio was instead getting help in an entirely different department.
Specifically, Howard pointed out that id Software assisted Bethesda with Fallout 4's combat but not with Starfield's. Instead, id's expertise with motion blur and the visual side of moment-to-moment gameplay was leveraged for the upcoming space exploration RPG. Howard also mentioned that there were "some other things that they do in id Tech" that got brought over into Starfield's Creation Engine 2, though he didn't go into any further details on exactly what these features might be.
Since Starfield is capped at 30 FPS on Xbox Series consoles, the game's handling of post-processing effects, such as motion blur, is crucial for the player's perception of smoothness. It makes perfect sense that a studio with id Software's tenure would be leveraged to optimize the game in this respect, and though it remains to be seen what else id has been helping out with, it's clear that combat isn't on the list.
This is still good news, though. While it wouldn't have been surprising to have id Software working on the combat elements of Starfield, the fact that the studio didn't chime in on this aspect of gameplay suggests good things about Bethesda Game Studios's internal combat development. The things shown off during the Xbox Showcase suggested that big upgrades had been made since last year's gameplay demo, and the developer appears to have it figured out on that front.
Given the game's burgeoning popularity following the Xbox Game Showcase, it's not a big surprise to see that some developers have begun mocking Starfield ahead of its September release, but this doesn't seem to have panned out for them. The community is largely happy with what Bethesda has shown off, and the only thing that remains is for Todd Howard's team to deliver on its promises.
Starfield releases September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: IGN