After almost a year since it was delayed into the first half of 2023, Xbox and Bethesda have finally confirmed that Starfield will release on Xbox Series X/S and PC on September 6, 2023. This announcement comes almost five years after the reveal of Starfield at Bethesda's 2018 E3 conference, and the game will release around the third anniversary of Microsoft's announcement of its acquisition of Bethesda and its parent studio ZeniMax Media.
Last year, Microsoft positioned Starfield as the closing title of its Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, with the game's director, Todd Howard, taking up the last ten minutes of the show to finally reveal gameplay for the long anticipated new IP from Bethesda Game Studios. At the time however, Starfield's inclusion in the showcase came alongside a major promise from Xbox regarding every game in the showcase, one that Starfield's delay beyond June 2023 has broken.
Xbox's Promise During The Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase
During the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, immediately after revealing Hollow Knight: Silksong, Xbox's Corporate Vice President Sarah Bond revealed that every game featured in the almost 90-minute showcase would release within 12 months from the showcase's airing. At the time, many fans were stunned by this bold assertion, given how common video game delays have become with the tumultuous and often shifting standards of modern game development culture. For Microsoft to put such a firm stake in the ground during such a big showcase felt as if the company was setting itself up for failure.
At the time, this claim came with some uncertainty. For one, there was some confusion whether this applied to Team Cherry's long anticipated sequel to its breakout 2018 Metroidvania hit Hollow Knight, Hollow Knight: Silksong. A Tweet from Xbox later confirmed that this claim did include the long delayed indie game, which was also confirmed to launch into Xbox Game Pass. Secondly, this claim didn't include announcements like the reveal of Hideo Kojima's partnership with Xbox, which both parties claim is still a long ways off completion. With that in mind, it was fair to assume that everything else would release before the end of June 2023.
Until now, this claim surprisingly continued to hold true. Games featured in Microsoft's showcase such as A Plague Tale: Requiem, High on Life, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, have indeed already released within 12 months of the showcase. Others, such as Redfall and Diablo 4, already have seemingly locked in release dates for May and June, respectively. For some titles however, such as Forza Motorsport, Ark 2, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and Lightyear Frontier, the release dates are still ambiguous. Now, with Starfield's delay, this promise has been broken, meaning it's more realistic that these games will see delays beyond June 2023 if they are not ready for release.
Why Xbox and Bethesda Can't Make This Mistake Again
The delay of Starfield and associated breaking of Xbox's promise during its last summer showcase means that Xbox cannot pull this trick again during the next Xbox Games Showcase, which is scheduled for June 11th, 2023. At the time, claiming that all the games featured in the show would release within 12 months felt like somewhat of an excuse for Microsoft to justify not having any new information on long anticipated Xbox exclusives such as Avowed, State of Decay 3, Perfect Dark, Fable, Everwild, and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.
While Microsoft does not have a major obligation to show these games if they are not ready, something it likely hopes to have learned from Halo Infinite's initial gameplay reveal, many Xbox Series X/S owners are growing inpatient with the lack of updates surrounding the games almost three years on from their announcement. Given that the company has failed to live up to the main objective of Xbox's last major showcase, fans are likely to be skeptical of any perceived over-promising this time around, meaning that it's on Microsoft to regain their trust and perhaps even refrain from promising any uncertain release windows.
Regardless, it is at least respectable that Xbox and Bethesda announced Starfield's delay out of the first half of 2023 with a solid release date of September 6th, 2023. That said, the real challenge will be if this day actually ends up being when Starfield finally launches. What fans do know that the game will be receiving its own showcase separate from the Xbox Games Showcase, likely indicating that it will not be part of Xbox's annual presentation this year.
Starfield will release on PC and Xbox Series X/S on September 6th 2023. The game will be part of Xbox Game Pass.