Rumor: Starfield Exclusively on Xbox; Release Planned Before Christmas
Starfield could be coming this year as an exclusive title for Microsoft consoles. Such leaks about Bethesda's new game, said to be pretty much completed, have reached the ears of youtuber Rand al Thor and Windows Central editor Jez Corden.
- Youtuber Rand al Thor and journalist Jez Corden shared rumors that Starfield could be released this year;
- The title is already practically finished and the developers are just working on ironing out bugs;
- Rand and Corden are also pretty much certain that Starfield will be a Microsoft exclusive.
Starfield is still a very mysterious title, even though it was revealed back in 2018. Of course, since then there have been plenty of leaks with - as is usually the case - varying degrees of credibility. The latest one gives hope that the game will be revealed in the coming months in something other than rumors. Youtuber Rand al Thor claimed during his recent podcast that Starfield could already be pretty much finished and would debut this year.
It should be noted at the outset to approach this (and other) unofficial information with caution. Rand al Thor himself has repeatedly stressed that he is not an insider, and even those can sometimes be wrong. However, the youtuber doesn't hide having some acquaintances among Microsoft employees, the Xbox team and "sources" from whom he hears various things. In addition, the guest of the podcast and a close friend of Rand's is Jez Corden, editor of Windows Central, known for his many reliable or even confirmed reports on the activities of Microsoft. We owe him, for example, the recent information about the likely number of Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
As for Rand's reports, the youtuber heard that Starfield was supposed to come out last year, but the coronavirus thwarted Bethesda's plans. The game is already at such a stage that the developers are mainly concerned with fixing bugs. This may be surprising, since we still don't know almost anything about it. Nevertheless, both Rand and Corden claim to have heard it along with the assurance that Microsoft is making a huge effort for Starfield to be released this year (i.e. during the Christmas period). The YouTuber is also absolutely certain that the game will be an Xbox (and PC, as per Microsoft's policy) exclusive. In doing so, he echoed Corden, who has long assured that Starfield will not be available on PS5.
Rand also mentioned the recent addition of the Starfield trademark on ZeniMax Media's website (via Reddit). Under normal circumstances, this could be considered a simple action by the publisher, not indicative of anything special or significant. However, the youtuber (and not only him) points out that ZeniMax has a habit of adding such information almost exclusively when a release date is already set. For example, in the case of Doom Eternal it was 2019, because that's when the work of id Software was originally supposed to be released, before the title was delayed.
Let's face it - these aren't the most solid (or even convincing) rumors under the sun. Still, it's all we've got until Bethesda spills the beans, and we know that the relatively trusted "not-insider" is by no means the most imaginative source that gamers desperate for information on a game can find. Let's hope, however, that we'll see Starfield - officially and in color - sooner rather than later, for example at this year's virtual E3 trade show.
