The love between Starfield And Xbox Series X|S is not dictated by the circumstances of the acquisition of Bethesda from Microsoft, but has roots in the past of the two companies. Even before the merger, the relationship between the two giants was special, as confirmed by Todd Howard during an interview.
Starfield is no coincidence: Bethesda has always started from Xbox
Howard specified that the collaboration between Bethesda and Microsoft has always been deep. Already at the time of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowindindeed, contacts were frequent and always on friendly terms. “They came to us and said we should make this game for Xbox“said Howard. “I had a great experience with them when they were making the first Xbox and then Xbox 360 with Oblivion so I guess the thing is we felt we had a great relationship with them and understood what their culture was.”
Hence the explanation of how Starfield is not conceptually different from pre-acquisition games. In fact, Bethesda’s development work has always started from the console versions, and in particular from those from Microsoft. The advantage that Starfield will have, if anything, is to be able to rely on technical support even closer from Xbox. Furthermore, being able to focus on a single console platform represents another added value.
“Even though we made games for PlayStation“, continues Todd Howard, taking the opportunity to praise the commendable work of sony with its next-gen, “we are traditionally PC developers and with the transition to Xbox this has become our main platform of reference. Like Morrowind, which is essentially an Xbox exclusive; Oblivion, which has been an Xbox exclusive for a long time; and the Skyrim DLCs were too.“
All to underline how developing Starfield exclusively for Xbox Series X | S and PC in no way represents a change from the normal creative process at Bethesda. What changes is the level of pressure due to the fact that Starfield is now a game first-party which must keep up the name of a console like Xbox Series X|S.
Starfield, all the news that emerged from the interview
Speaking of the characteristics of the game itself, among the novelties that emerged from the interview we point out solar systems labeled with different levels of difficulty and the promise that you will not be able to get lost in space without fuel. This occurrence would be a “fun killer” and can only be designed for a possible future hardcore-survival update.
The space suitsmoreover, they will have different characteristics and resistance to gas, toxic substances and temperature and will have to be changed according to the planet we are on. A confirmation also arrives for the robot enemies. As for the planets, the developers could have created thousands of them, but it was decided to limit the number in order to give each one a precise name and to make the players perceive the peculiarities of each environment. On the subject of the postponement, Todd Howard reiterates that it was a very painful choice, but that the risks associated with launching the game in non-optimal conditions were too high.
We remind you that Starfield will be available for Xbox Series X|S and PC during 2023, on a date yet to be defined. As known, the game will arrive on the catalog from Day one Game Pass.
