Microsoft and Bethesda may announce a Developer Direct livestream for the upcoming science fiction FPS RPG Starfield. While officially unconfirmed, these rumors come from major figures in the gaming media with sources inside the industry.Bethesda officially announced Starfield at E3 2018, though the developer trademarked the name in 2013 and had been working on the basic concept for some time before that. Set in the 2330s, players take the role of a space explorer from an organization called Constellation. Playable in first or third-person, Todd Howard described Starfield as "Skyrim in space," and the game features both ground and space combat. Players can also customize their ships, establish colonies, and explore over 1000 planets. Bethesda plans to release Starfield sometime in the first half of this year but has yet to set a specific date.However, more Starfield news may be on its way soon if multiple insider sources can be believed. Video Games Chronicle’s Editor-in-Chief Andy Robinson got the conversation started on Friday afternoon with a tweet saying, "I hear the announcement for the Starfield showcase is imminent." A few minutes later, he replied to his tweet saying, "As in, soon." His comment was subsequently corroborated by YouTuber Rand Al Thor 19 and Windows Central Editor Jez Corden on their latest Xbox Two podcast.
Andy Robinson didn't provide any additional information about Microsoft and Bethesda's potentially upcoming announcement. However, Rand and Corden did say a bit more starting 2 hours and 24 minutes into their latest podcast episode. The two say they had a private conversation about it yesterday when Rand learned about the upcoming Starfield showcase, which he believes Microsoft and Bethesda will announce next week. Cordon claims to have heard something similar, but they kept it quiet until Cordon received confirmation from his sources.
Furthermore, Rand claims that he has heard rumors since before The Game Awards indicating that Bethesda would hold a Starfield showcase in March or April 2023. Cordon also noted that he, Rand, and Robinson most likely do not get their information from the same collection of sources, meaning that a lot of different people are saying the same things. With multiple sources seemingly telling the same story consistently for so long, these rumors have a lot more credibility than they would otherwise.
Rand and Cordon were still careful to hedge their bets and not state that the rumors were facts. This is likely wise given Rand's claim that news about Starfield has been unpredictable, with Bethesda's plans seeming to be quite fluid. However, Rand also says that there has been a lot of talk about Starfield Direct soon. He believes Microsoft and Bethesda may stage it next month, with the game releasing in June.
Starfield is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S in 2023.