Video games take so long to make these days that it's a sad inevitability that some people excited for a title won't get to experience it for themselves. This was the case for Alex Hay, a Starfield fan and writer that announced earlier this year on the game's subreddit that they probably weren't going to make it to release date due to them being diagnosed with lung cancer. Alex was looking forward to using the title as a distraction after stopping treatment, but its delay to September this year meant that they wouldn't be able to play.
Alex sadly passed away not longer after they posted their update to the subreddit, and many Starfield fans have said they're going to dedicate and name their ship after him so he gets to explore the stars in some capacity. However, that's not enough for some Starfield fans, as a bunch of them are now campaigning for Bethesda to add Alex to the game as an in-game tribute (thanks GamesRadar), similar to what the developer has done in past Bethesda games.
The campaign itself was kicked off by YouTuber Light, who called on fans to use the hashtag AlexInStarfield on social media in an attempt to catch Bethesda's attention. Light explains that the campaign will be used to try and get Alex added as some kind of NPC character in Starfield, similar to how Bethesda added a character called Evan to Fallout 4's Nuka World DLC after he also passed away before release. Light even admits that it may be too late into development for an new NPC to be added, but still urges people to join in the campaign in case DLC is released for Starfield.
That was a few days ago now, and as for how the campaign has been going, Bethesda has still yet to respond. There is hope though, as Light posted in a tweet via their personal Twitter account that they've been told Bethesda is "aware" of Alex and his circumstances, and that the developers "likely have plans" for some kind of memorial. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet though, so fingers crossed we actually see a tribute to Alex somewhere throughout The Settled Systems when Starfield launches in September later this year.