After two public postponements, the ambitious space RPG Starfield is set to release on September 6th, but the wait could have been longer had it not been for PC and Xbox exclusives.
Image source: GameRant
On the benefit of not releasing Starfield on PS5 during the deal between the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Microsoft and Activision Blizzard told Pete Hines, Publishing Director at Bethesda Softworks.
When asked if Starfield would have been released in 2023 if it had also been developed for PS5, Hines said no: “We would not release [игру] in nine (actually ten – approx.) weeks if they would support another platform”.
Hines says games for more platforms take longer and cost more to develop (Image source: Steam)
At the same time, Hines indicated that he was surprised by Xbox’s willingness to release Activision Blizzard games (Call of Duty in particular) on the PlayStation and other platforms, while keeping Bethesda projects exclusive to Xbox.
Hines says Bethesda was not warned about Microsoft’s distribution strategy for Activision projects and the Call of Duty rhetoric stunned him: “This is in direct contradiction to what we’ve been told with our games.”.
Image source: Xbox
At the same hearing, Xbox Game Studios CEO Matt Booty said missthat the decision on the possible exclusivity of The Outer Worlds 2 – the sequel to Obsidian’s satirical RPG – “Not yet accepted”.
Both The Outer Worlds 2 and Starfield are announced for PC, Xbox and Game Pass. But if the first still has a chance to get to the PlayStation (the original The Outer Worlds is available on PS4 and PS5), then the second lost it completely.
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