Starfield has finally launched, available on Steam and Xbox Series X|S. It is also on Game Pass.
This launch marks the culmination of five years in development. Bethesda originally unveiled the game in E3 2018 with a small teaser trailer, followed by an in-engine trailer presented at E3 2021, that demonstrated the Creation Engine 2. It was also at this event that Microsoft revealed that the game would become an Xbox console exclusive, a few months after the console maker acquired their parent company Zenimax Media.
However, it can also be said that this is the end of a 25 + year journey for Bethesda. Todd Howard revealed that the studio was interested in making a “Skyrim in space” as far back as 1994, when they acquired the license to make a video game based on the Traveller tabletop RPG owned by Game Designer’s Workshop.
Bethesda’s efforts to jumsptart a space exporation themed video game would repeatedly falter through the years, At one point, they even had the rights to Star Trek, but their pitches failed to pass by their owners. But this was where something special happened.
In the 25 + years that they sat on the idea, Bethesda slowly reshaped the project to make something original. They ultimately came upon building the game around NASApunk, an aesthetic that is futuristic, but also realistic, for its grounded basis on NASA technology as they are used today.
Starfield also got caught up between PlayStation and Xbox fans because of the console exclusivity, which can be toxic, but is expected in the community. However, this would escalate to a wholly different level when Sony emerged to oppose Microsoft’s new merger acquisition deal of Activision Blizzard King.
Sony had argued that Microsoft’s decision to make Starfield exclusive means they could not be trusted to keep games multiplatform. Of course, we now generally understand, that this may not be something PlayStation fans like, but it doesn’t actually constitute a competition or antitrust issue.
Furthermore, Microsoft would later reveal that they moved to acquire Bethesda, after learning from Bethesda themselves that Sony made an offer for console exclusivity for Starfield on PlayStation. So, Starfield had become something of a rhetorical volleyball between the two companies, but that was ultimately a distraction from the game itself.
Starfield was paired with Redfall as two of the major Xbox game releases that fans were waiting on for the better part of two years. As a result, both got tied to a broader narrative if Microsoft had made Xbox Series X|S worthwhile for their fans with its slow trickle of exclusives. After Redfall’s poor release, Starfield seemed positioned to be the ‘saving grace’ of the console.
Of course, we now know that Microsoft does have a robust library of games coming after Starfield, in 2024 and the years beyond. But somehow, it looks like Starfield will live up to expectations as the game that will redeem Xbox Series X|S in the eyes of fans, as the first original IP from both Microsoft and Bethesda for years, and already a certified fan favorite and critical darling.
