Phil Spencer Says He is Satisfied With The Delay In Starfield Release
Bethesda SoftWorks first teased their space adventure RPG, Starfield, in 2018. Fans saw the game’s first teaser trailer at E3 2021, followed by an actual gameplay trailer at Bethesda and Xbox E3 showcase 2022.
Starfield is another original RPG from the studio who is loved for its classic RPGs like Skyrim and Fallout series. The initial release date for the game was set to be 11th Nov 2022. So yeah, if things were going according to the plan, we would have celebrated the launch a week ago and experienced the space journey on our screens.
Well, devs presented some reasonable concerns regarding the delay, and they wanted their game to be the best version of it, for fans to have the best experience possible, so with the following statement, the game was delayed in May of this year.
The teams at Arkane Austin (Redfall) and Bethesda Game Studios (Starfield) have incredible ambitions for their games, and we want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them.”
After delaying the game from its initial November release, the next release date for the game was not specified, and Bethesda stated that Starfield would be released in the first half of 2023.
Recently in an interview with The Verge, Xbox Chief Phil Spencer talked about many things regarding Xbox; he also shed some light on the shelved Xbox Keystone. Phil also mentions the Starfield delay, he said he is satisfied with the decision as the studio needed more time to further polish the game to Its best version.
And he didn’t want to dictate the studio about their game’s release dates, nor did he want to release the game early. According to him, delaying is better than releasing an unfinished game due to past bad experiences.
We have experience shipping games too early,” Spencer said. “But in hindsight, when you look at a game like Starfield – which has taken so long and so much investment in new IP from the team – the decision to give the team the time to build the game that they feel they should be building is just the right thing to do.”
He continued: “Starfield and Redfall, which are our first big Xbox games with [Bethesda SoftWorks owner] ZeniMax coming into the team, I just wanted to make sure those teams felt they had the support they could get from Xbox. Maybe feel some of the benefit of being part of a larger organization that has other revenue streams and other things going on that could be helpful.”
He added: “I, as somebody who has seen a few county fairs here, might get some gut instinct about where we are,” Spencer said, “just in the way the teams are talking about their game, where we are in playing builds. But you want teams to feel like they own their dates. It’s one of the things that, when teams feel like they own their own destiny with their games, they deliver better. So you wait for the real signal from the creative teams and production teams.”
Undoubtedly the concerns of the devs are valid, and they want to deliver the best product. Games like Elden Ring are examples of how successful a well thought and completely polished game can be and their impact on the industry.
All the developers try to put out their best work, which works out the best when they don’t have strict deadlines and their publishers and producers support their decisions, like in this case. The hype for Starfield is insane due to the previous track record of Bethesda SoftWorks with RPGs, and Starfield is claimed to be their most grand and expansive RPG yet. Which has skyrocketed the hopes of the fans.
We will keep you posted about any further information on Starfield’s release date. Please let us know your thoughts about this in the comment section below.
