One week ago, we reported on a bombshell rumor that Microsoft might be bringing Starfield to PlayStation 5. Well, now it seems the rumor has been completely debunked, by one of its sources no less.
As reported by WCCFTech, NateDrake AKA Nate The Hate, disowned the rumor on a reply on the ResetEra thread about the topic. He said:
“I’m now of the belief that Starfield is not happening and the info spread around was pure fiction. I’ll own the miss.”
Nate had a longer statement on Twitter, where he posted:
“Over the course of the week, I’ve rechecked the info mentioned below & the information suggesting Starfield was PS5-bound is false.
I will not delete the tweet. I’ll own the mistake.
A previous report from January discussing MS bringing games multiplat remains accurate.
For clarity: I’m only speaking for myself concerning Starfield, but new, updated info on my side suggests that Starfield is not destined for PS5.”
When Nate said he was only speaking for himself, this is because Sikamikanico, AKA Jon Clarke, over at XboxEra also said he heard the same thing from his own sources. Jon hasn’t chimed in on this with new information.
Of course, this rumor gained traction because Microsoft sold Starfield on the idea that it was an Xbox exclusive. This exclusivity got to a point that Microsoft defended that choice to the UK’s CMA when they were undergoing regulation for the Activision deal.
In a seeming knockoff effect, we then saw rumors that even more games were considered to be ported to other platforms, such as the Gears of War franchise, and the newly revealed Indiana Jones and the Golden Circle.
Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer, for his part, made a statement that they were listening and that we heard us. At the time, some fans assumed his choice not to directly address the question meant it was true, and they were stalling to figure out how to explain this.
But now, this rumor, and all the rumors attached to it have a different tenor to them. There are two possible scenarios to what happened here, in our estimation:
- This almost happened, but Phil and the other execs at Microsoft Gaming discussed this, and/or talked about this with their higher ups at Microsoft, who possibly made these plans. Whoever originally planned this was then convinced it was a bad idea, and they were able to reverse these decisions and take everything bad.
- This never happened and was never planned. Nate and Jon were fed bad information that got through to them from sources they trusted, but clearly should not have. We should remember that both have had good rumors that were confirmed true later, so they shouldn’t be dismissed as unreliable sources outright.
However it happened, the past week was certainly an interesting look at how only a few business decisions can go a long way to harming and affecting a game company’s reputation. It’s why Microsoft, as well as Sony, Nintendo, Valve, etc, are careful to responding to any controversy or situation that comes up their way.
In any case, everything will be revealed this week as Microsoft’s business update comes up.
