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Similar to Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop which were both Bethesda-published games that released as timed exclusives on PS5, we now have confirmation that Starfield was almost going to be a PS5 console exclusive at one point before Microsoft acquired Bethesda and parent company ZeniMax.
According to The Verge, Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently spoke about Starfield in the FTC hearings regarding the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. Spencer stated that upon hearing about Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s PS5 exclusivity deals, Microsoft took action in acquiring Bethesda and ZeniMax. This process was only sped up when reports began to surface about Sony potentialy acquiring the exclusivity rights for Bethesda Game Studios’ sci-fi RPG, Starfield.
Spencer’s comments on Starfield‘s PS5 console exclusivity reads:
“When we acquired ZeniMax, one of the impetus for that is that Sony had done a deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire to pay Bethesda to not ship those games on Xbox. So the discussion about Starfield when we heard that Starfield was potentially also going to end up skipping Xbox, we can’t be in a position as a third-place console where we fall further behind on our content ownership so we’ve had to secure content to remain viable in the business.”
If the deal had gone through, it’s possible that Starfield could’ve only been a PS5 console exclusive for a year before heading to Xbox platforms. Of course, the curve the competition, Microsoft made the decision to sweep up Bethesda in order to avoid this from happening. Xbox still honoured the arrangements for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s one-year timed console exclusivity on PS5, though things could’ve been much different had Sony been successful in its attempts to secure an exclusivity deal for Starfield as well.
Starfield launches on 6 September 2023 for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Editor-in-Chief of Nexus Hub, writer at GLITCHED. Former writer at The Gaming Report and All Otaku Online. RPG addict that has wonderful nightmares of Bloodborne 2.
