Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
Console exclusivity is a tricky topic that’s gotten a bit trickier now that Bethesda is a Microsoft property. With this acquisition comes the stark reality that Starfield is an Xbox exclusive. While the game will be available on PC (thanks to the relationship between PC and Xbox), many Sony PlayStation owners are panicked, wondering whether or not Starfield will ever release on their preferred console, the PlayStation 5.
The answer to the question, “Will Starfield ever release on PS5?” is no. Microsoft spent $7.5 billion USD acquiring ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda. One does not spend this amount of money without ensuring everything that comes from the company stays within your ecosystem. To that end, the likelihood of Starfield, or any future Bethesda game, coming to a Sony console – be it PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 6 (whenever that inevitably happens) – is next to nil.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer also thinks that Xbox can recoup the price of purchasing ZeniMax without releasing Bethesda games on PlayStation. Spencer spoke of this during an interview with Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo and then later on, in an Xbox Wire post, he confirmed that Bethesda games will be “exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”
PlayStation already has a lot of stellar first party titles such as God of War, Spider-Man, The Last of Us, and Ratchet & Clank. The key difference here is that Bethesda titles have typically been console agnostic. This marks a major moment in gaming where huge AAA series have gone from being available across multiple platforms to being limited to only a select few.
However, exclusive titles have always driven console sales. In saying this, there is another key difference with the Microsoft/Bethesda exclusivity deal and it’s that Bethesda titles won’t be limited to just Xbox, they’ll be available on PC, as well as through the Xbox Game Pass program.
PlayStation owners will no doubt be disappointed to hear that Starfield won’t release on PS5, and neither will other Bethesda titles now that its parent company, ZeniMax, is owned by Microsoft. The good news is that PlayStation has many excellent console exclusives and Starfield will still be available on PC.