Starfield community calls for touching tribute to fan who died before game’s release

Several members of the Starfield community have vowed to name their character or ship after Alex Hay, a Starfield fan who died months before the game’s release.

Hay opened up about his battle against lung cancer in a Reddit post on March 8 and told how he felt “gutted” after Starfield got delayed last year. Hay followed the project for years and was looking forward to playing Starfield and getting some distraction but knew his odds were slim as he was already under palliative care. Hay’s family confirmed his passing on May 16.

Now that we’re mere days ahead of Starfield‘s early access, members of the Starfield community said they’ll name their character or ship after Hay so he gets to fly across space as well. Some players had already promised this to Hay when he made his Reddit post and he was fond of the idea.

While the Starfield community is engaged in paying tributes to Hay, some members also asked Bethesda to do its own tribute in-game in the form of an easter egg.

Some players forwarded Hay’s March post to Starfield‘s director Todd Howard months ago, but it’s unclear if the message ever really caught Howard’s attention. Bethesda has already done something similar in the past when it created an easter egg in Fallout 4‘s DLC Nuka-World to mourn the loss of a Fallout 4 fan’s brother.

Given Bethesda’s track record, it’s possible that the developers have added some sort of tribute in memory of Hay to Starfield. We’ll only find out when the game releases at the end of this week, but just to be safe, I’m determined to name my ship after Hay.