Bethesda Studios studio design director Emil Pagliarulo, who has been with the company for more than 21 years, had to say on Twitter yesterday that under no circumstances could he divulge any tidbits about the "Starfield" universe. This was after relentless online questioning that has apparently reached fever pitch in the run-up to the game's release.

"I know this is not what any of the 'Starfield' fans want to hear from me, but I feel the need to clarify: No one but Todd Howard himself is authorized to speak publicly about unreleased game information," Pagliarulo wrote. 'I know you have a ton of questions. I understand that. ...... I am sobered by the anticipation for "Starfield". Really. I am truly bowled over. So it really pains me to say that I can't answer 99% of your questions."

Pagliarulo goes on to write: "I can't speak to my opinion on the content of the game, nor can I speak to the performance. I signed an NDA. I am a professional. I don't want to be fired." The tweet was also posted on the Starfield subreddit, to which user FlatbushHaitian responded: "Leave me alone."

User Titan7771 also wrote: "Really nice response to what I honestly think is an avalanche of [obnoxious and rude] comments," as did several replies to Titan7771, calling out the Fallout community's harsh reaction to his piece, Pagliarulo has had to deal with fan vitriol before.

Doing a little research, yikes, you're not wrong: a nearly 6-year-old thread on the Fallout subreddit with nearly 9,000 upvotes titled "Until Bethesda fires/transfers Emil Pagliarulo, never again expect a quality story Until Bethesda fires/transfers Emil Pagliarulo, don't expect a quality story ever again. Yes, it's that bad." This was in response to Pagliarulo's talks on "Fallout 4" and "Skyrim," for which he was writer and lead designer.

The Twitter thread seems both polite and firm, given what he has endured in the past.

This is yet another example of the struggle the Starfield community is enduring while the often-delayed title looms in sight. There are healthier things fans could be doing with their time anyway, such as creating a 1,000-page lore compendium, rather than asking questions of contract-bound developers.