After running on a bone dry first-party lineup in comparison to Sony Interactive Entertainment last generation, Xbox Game Studios continues to invest looking towards other talent to form new teams (The Initiative) or outright purchase to establish a larger impression on the industry (Bethesda). Most recently, Xbox Game Studios lead Matt Booty expressed desire to continue acquisitions until there is a major release each quarter of the year.
In terms of what is to be delivered to Xbox so far since its establishment of Bethesda as a subsidiary for the Microsoft gaming division, there are two exclusive IPs already: Starfield & Redfall. But, many question the legitimacy of the first title since it was announced back in 2018. Following the reveal this past June, Pete Hines of Bethesda stated “I apologize” to PlayStation fans hoping Starfield would ship on more consoles.
But in a recent comment from Hines leaves room for fans to further hope there is the possibility the game hits more consoles. But, Xbox General Manager Aaron Greenberg on Twitter went on to reiterate that the speculation is nothing more than such.
Returning to the statement from Hines that sparked the skepticism, he goes on to reference that Bethesda is not entirely unique to Xbox following forward. Most likely, Hines was indicating that already established franchises will continue to be delivered to all consoles following forward. For the sake of PlayStation uniquely, both Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo are to receive exclusive releases on the platform before Xbox for a full year as we already know.
Furthermore, IPs such as Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, and even The Elder Scrolls franchises are likely to continue supporting all systems with the amount of history that was previously instated across Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and now Nintendo Switch. But, Starfield and Redfall are only the first of new projects that will be only on Xbox moving forward.
Although both titles are said to be only playable on Xbox Series consoles, that is not entirely true. Recently, Microsoft announced that xCloud is coming to Xbox One and its newer sibling console later this year. So players can experience those games on the 2013 system without needing to spend the extra couple hundred to experience the new titles. You can read the full report by heading here.
Are you surprised by Greenberg’s comment?
Starfield launches on November 11, 2022 for Xbox Series X|S and PC.
