Starfield modding project to create a whole Elder Scrolls-themed planet "has been canceled", but the poster behind it says it wasn't just trolling
"I want to emphasise that the project was genuine."
Just days after a lengthy Reddit post outlining plans for it garnered a fair amount of attention, a very ambitious Starfield modding project that aimed to create an entire Elder Scrolls-themed planet featuring recreations of the worldspaces from Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind "has been cancelled". Though, the poster behind it denies that it was, as many commenters had assumed, never properly in the works to begin with.
Dubbed "Project Tamriel", that initial post about the initative on June 28 by Reddit user New-Star-340 claimed that it was "an ambitious and groundbreaking modding endeavor that aims to bring the entirety of Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls series into the expansive universe of Starfield". They specified that this would be accomplished by populating a single planet with "iconic items, detailed maps, and beloved quests" from Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind. Naturally, given how lofty a goal this is and the titanic effort it'd surely take, the post was met by a mixture of excitement and cynicism.
VG247 has since reached out to New-Star-340 in an effort to learn more about Project Tamriel, with the poster responding that "the project has been canceled", with this being cited as the reason behind the absence of links to a website or Discord server for it that initial post, despite one section of that featuring a bracketed space for one.
"After sharing the initial concept with the community, it became clear that the support we were hoping for just wasn't there," New-Star-340 stated regarding the reason for the sudden cancellation. "Many fans voiced concerns and indicated that they were not interested in seeing this project come to fruition. In terms of the team, we were a small group of passionate modders excited about the possibilities. However, the feedback we received made us realize that the excitement we felt wasn't shared by the broader community."
"This has been a disappointing turn of events for me and the team," they continued. "We had high hopes and were driven by a vision of creating something truly unique within the Starfield universe. While this particular project won't continue, we hope that our experience inspires others in the modding community to pursue their ambitious ideas.
"If another team is interested in picking up where we left off, we would certainly support their efforts. For now, though, my team and I don't feel it's worth pursuing without the necessary backing and enthusiasm from the community.
"Addressing the comments suggesting the post was bait or satire, I want to emphasise that the project was genuine," New-Star-340 asserted. "We were truly excited about the potential of combining these beloved game worlds into one epic experience. However, given the community's reaction, we had to make the tough decision to halt development."
VG247 flagged to the poster the fact that their project's intended name, Project Tamriel, is already in use as the name for an established collective of modding projects for Morrowind. "I was not aware of the existing modding project when we started," New-Star-340 responded, adding: "We had ideas to change the name to avoid any confusion, but since the project will not be moving forward, this is now a moot point."
We also reached out to the team behind that existing Morrowind project to get their take on the situation, with the group responding that it didn't have formal position on the matter as of the time we reached out. Understandably, its modders seem to be more focused on simply concenrating on their own modding efforts.
"Project Tamriel has two major releases on the horizon," the Morrowind modding team told us, "Abecean Shores for Province: Cyrodiil and Markarth Side for Skyrim: Home of the Nords. Abecean Shores will be the first official release for PC, introducing the region around Anvil as well as the island of Stirk. Markarth Side will complete the Kingdom of the Reach for SHOTN, including the first regional questline for Project Tamriel. Additionally, we have broken ground on building the worldspace for our Hammerfell and High Rock projects, and have developers working on assets and lore for our Valenwood expansion."