Starfield fans pledge to remember terminally ill fan who passed following game's delay

Video games mean a lot to many gamers across the world and other than providing us with distractions from our worldly woes like no other forms of media can, it can also be a place where the heart warms and breaks the most.

Bethesda says that Starfield has been 20 years in the making when its concept was a mere dream decades ago, but now thanks to modern gaming consoles, that dream is finally coming to fruition and anticipation is being shot into the stratosphere.

During its long development, Starfield has suffered multiple delays to ensure that Bethesda makes this the best sci-fi RPG possible. After all, Bethesda is known for bugs, so it’s vital that Starfield hits the ground running.

Sadly, however, while those delays have been for the better of the game, it’s not been good news for everyone, in particular Alex Hay. Back in March 2023, Alex posted on Reddit that he had been tragically diagnosed with lung cancer aged just 35, despite never smoking a single cigarette.

Unfortunately, with Starfield’s most recent delay pushing the game back to September 2023, it meant that Alex was never able to play the game he was so excited for. Shortly after his Reddit post, Alex passed away.

Since that initial Reddit post earlier in the year, members of the community vowed to name their Starfield spaceships after the Bethesda superfan and this week, we were reminded of that vow with the launch of Starfield being just a few weeks away.

“Just a reminder to remember our fellow explorer, Alex Hay, who cancer took before he could play this game,” reminded NoahW0224. “As we all prepare to dive into Starfield in these next few weeks, let’s think of Alex and name a character or ship after him.”

Life can be hard, especially with heartbreaking stories such as this one. However, this story also shines a light on how wonderful the video game community can be. We’re not sure if Bethesda would celebrate the life of Alex Hay in an official capacity, but if there’s one thing for sure, the video game community has his back.

Starfield will be released for PC and Xbox Series X|S on 6 September 2023. That’s unless you’ve pre-ordered the Premium or Constellation Edition, in which case, your release date is 1 September. Starfield will also launch on Xbox Game Pass.

Finally, GAMINGbible would like to send our love and condolences to the friends of Alex Hay.