Starfield Early Access launches in exactly one month from today.
Okami13 shared a reminder of this schedule in a recent tweet.
When Microsoft acquired Zenimax and its eight subsidiaries, there was an immediate understanding that the company had pulled off an incredible deal. The company has approximately 2,300 employees, and many of its studios bring with them a classic set of IP, particularly from Bethesda and id Software.
Thus far, Microsoft has honored all existing contracts for Zenimax games to release to other platforms. At the time of sale, Microsoft has publicly confirmed that they made the acquisition to get exclusive games for Game Pass, but as we now know, there was much more than that.
In the investigations for the Microsoft Activision deal, it came to light that Sony tried to buy exclusivity for Starfield itself. Microsoft received a heads up from friendly peers in Activision, and made the call to purchase the entire company to stop this from going through.
So Starfield, a game that has reportedly been in production since 2016, is now set to become an Xbox Series X|S exclusive.
For Bethesda, Starfield is their first major new IP in decades. But really, this is an idea that the company has had in their minds for decades, before the game industry had progressed enough to make it happen.
Both their giant Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises were often set in thematically dark worlds, but Starfield promises to shift that tone just a little bit, as its world is mired in space exploration just as much as in its human conflicts.
Unfortunately for Starfield, it also is facing an unnecessary burden. In the past few years, Microsoft had been advertising Starfield alongside Redfall as the next major releases coming under Microsoft.
But, Redfall’s release turned out poorly, as the game launched with many technical issues, and also turned out to have been an incomplete game, pushed early because Zenimax and Arkane could no longer afford to invest in it.
Redfall has had a real tangible effect in Xbox Series console sales, as fans have lost a bit of trust in the brand after their promotion of this bomb. Starfield, then, has to be great, great enough to justify buying an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S. Not only that, Starfield has to be good enough to steer the narrative back positively for Microsoft. It’s a tall order, and we will find out soon enough if it is up to that challenge.
Starfield will be releasing on September 6, 2023, on Xbox Series X|S, and Windows via Steam. It will also be Day One on Game Pass, and it will have Xbox Play Anywhere, meaning it can be streamed on PC, Xbox consoles, and mobile devices.
