Todd Howardkey figure of Bethesda Game Studios and Game Director of Starfield, recently granted an interview of more than two hours to the youtuber Lex Fridman. Numerous details and discussion points emerged from the chat, most of which related to the highly anticipated space RPG currently under development.
Among the topics brought up, there was also that relating to console exclusivity. Now part of Microsoft’s Game Studios family, Xbox Series X and Series S will be the only consoles to host Starfield. During the interview, Howard explained that not having to deal with a PlayStation 5 edition allowed developers to better focus on the development of the Xbox Series X|S version. In other words, the guys from Bethesda have rediscovered the “joys” of console-exclusive development, which they haven’t experienced for a long time. The studio’s last title to land on a single console was The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, released only on Xbox back in 2002. For the occasion, Bethesda developers are getting support from top Microsoft engineerswho are collaborating on the development of the Xbox Series X|S version.
Howard also confessed that he would like to reduce the development time of his games (also referring to The Elder Scrolls 6, announced more than four years ago), but that this is not possible, for the sake of the perpetually waiting fans. Starfield itself is making itself wait longer than expected: initially expected for November 11 this year, it was postponed to an unspecified date of 2023. Like Phil Spencer, Howard also stated that postponing Starfield was a right decision: Releasing it in November would have taken risks for the team, the game, the fans and the Xbox brand. As if that weren’t enough, the “Platform Seller” label, which indicates a game intended to represent an entire platform and promote its sales, has only added pressure on the team.
Recall that Starfield is also expected on PC, as well as on Xbox Series X | S. Like every game published by the Redmond house, it will also be available in Game Pass from launch.
