2023-06-24 05:00:00
Microsoft bought Bethesda to prevent Starfield from becoming a PS5 exclusive, preventing a second deathloop.
Playstation 5 facts
Developer: Sony
Publisher: Sony
Genre: Hardware
Release: 19/11/2020
Microsoft is currently in court with the FTC to finalize the Activision Blizzard deal. This court hearing brings many more facts to the table and allows us to better understand the video game market. One of the biggest new revelations comes from Xbox boss Phil Spencerwho claims that one of the key reasons behind Microsoft’s decision to acquire Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax Media, was to prevent Starfield from becoming a PS5 exclusive.
Shortly after the studio was taken over, you might recall that titles like Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop were released as limited-time PlayStation exclusives, even though their developers were already part of Microsoft at the time. That’s because Bethesda had previously signed deals with Sony for both titles to to appear exclusively on PlayStation consoles for one year. Microsoft was extremely concerned that the same could happen to Starfield.
Starfield was a key reason for the Bethesda acquisition
Instead of waiting for PlayStation to remove Starfield from Xbox systems, Microsoft decided to acquire Bethesda and with it the new Starfield franchise – as well as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, DOOM and more. It’s likely that Microsoft had reasons other than Starfield’s potential PlayStation exclusivity, given the company’s acquisition of a number of talented studios at the same time. But Spencer claims that was one of the driving forces behind the decision.
“Zenimax is a good example,” says Spencer (via Twitter @ethangach). “One of the reasons we acquired Zenimax was that Sony had a deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire [Tokyo] and effectively paid Bethesda not to release those games on Xbox. So when we heard that Starfield might also be skipping Xbox, we couldn’t be in a third console position…”
Starfield was planned for PS5, maybe even ‘exclusive’
Sure, Starfield is Bethesda Studios’ first new franchise in 25 years. Behind the development is a team known for The Elder Scrolls series, with the sixth main part only appearing in 2028 (or later). So there are many reasons that Sony also had to bring such games at least “time-exclusive” to PlayStation consoles.
Starfield features over 1,000 planets, with around 10% of the surfaces containing life. – (C) Bethesda
Microsoft has a proven habit of discontinuing the PlayStation versions of games in development prior to the acquisition. Examples include Redfall and MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones video game. But would Sony, in the situation of having bought Zenimax (Bethesda), feel any different? Rather not.
Starfield will be released on September 6th for Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC.
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