Summary

• Starfield entered Early Access on August 31, with an official worldwide release on September 6, 2023.
• Previous Bethesda games like the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls series have been released on PlayStation consoles.
• Phil Spencer confirmed on the Official Xbox Podcast whether Starfield will come to PlayStation.

When Xbox-exclusive titles multiplatform, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has addressed whether Starfield will be among them.

Starfield's Xbox exclusivity was announced at E3 2021 following apologized for this, stating that he could relate to the feelings of frustration from the fan base as he also plays games on that console but that the developer had to focus on building games such as Starfield for Xbox moving forward.

Microsoft Will Be Looking At More Multiplatform Releases Going Forward

Four Xbox Games Will Be Coming To PlayStation Soon, But Starfield Isn't One Of Them

During the February 15, 2024, Official Xbox Podcast, Phil Spencer confirmed that four Xbox and PC exclusives would be coming to PlayStation, but didn't elaborate further on what these would be, stating that the developers behind those titles had their own plans for announcements. The podcast's host, Tina Amini, directly asked Spencer if Starfield or MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be among these titles, with both titles being named in the initial rumors surrounding the multiplatform plan.

Spencer confirmed that neither Starfield nor Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be among the titles coming to PlayStation. The four titles were instead over a year old, with a couple of them being community-driven so Microsoft could continue to invest and build upon them. With Starfield being a single-player title and having been released less than six months ago, it wouldn't have fallen into these criteria anyway.

Microsoft's acquisitions of Zenimax and Activision Blizzard King were intended as a way for Xbox to secure content to remain viable in the business after the amount of PlayStation-exclusive releases on the market. In fact, during a hearing with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (via TheVerge), it was revealed that a huge part of the reason Microsoft acquired Bethesda is due to Xbox's CEO Phil Spencer being concerned that Sony was going to make Starfield a PlayStation exclusive and skip Xbox. This would be in line with what it had done with other titles owned by ZeniMax such as Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, which were both timed exclusives. With this being a driving factor in this business decision, it's understandable that Microsoft would want to retain its exclusivity over Starfield for now.

Could Starfield Come To PlayStation At A Later Date?

Will Microsoft Do More Multiplatform Console Releases Going Forward?

There is still the possibility that Starfield could come to PlayStation consoles at some point, especially if the launch of the four Xbox titles proves to be a success on the platform. When explaining the logic behind releasing Xbox exclusives on other platforms, Spencer stated that "games that are exclusive to one piece of hardware are going to be a smaller part of the game industry", pointing out that there are already many console exclusives that also release on PC, and Starfield is one such title.

Previously, PlayStation had been praised for its library of exclusive franchises such as God of War, Horizon, Uncharted, The Last of Us, or Marvel's Spider-Man, with many citing this as a reason to purchase a PlayStation 4 over an Xbox One. Most of these titles have been released on PC in the years following their console launch, which further backs up Spencer's claim. While many thought that the acquisitions of major studios would result in more Xbox exclusivity, if the multiplatform releases do seem to work in Microsoft's favor, it's more likely that players will just see the inverse of PlayStation's plans going forward.

With more titles coming to other platforms after a timed exclusive window instead, adding a major title such as Starfield could rejuvenate interest and bring a new audience for the title. Considering the 97% decline in players on Steam within the past six months, with 67% of this being within the first month of release (as reported by Starfield's Shattered Space DLC will give pre-existing players on Xbox and PC a reason to revisit the game first.

Source: Xbox/YouTube, TheVerge, Insider Gaming