Highlights
- Starfield will be an Xbox Play Anywhere title, meaning it can be played on all Xbox consoles and PCs with a single purchase.
- The inclusion of Xbox Play Anywhere for Starfield was expected due to Bethesda's ownership by Microsoft subsidiary ZeniMax Media.
- Buying Starfield directly from Microsoft offers maximum value for money for gamers heavily invested in the Xbox ecosystem.
Starfield will be an Xbox Play Anywhere title from day one, as revealed by a recent update to one of its online storefront listings. Although this feature wasn't outright confirmed back when Starfield went up for pre-orders in June, its inclusion is far from surprising, not least because Bethesda is owned by Microsoft subsidiary ZeniMax Media.
Microsoft originally announced Xbox Play Anywhere in mid-2016 and has consistently offered this functionality in its first-party games ever since. Much like its name suggests, any title touting this tag requires only a single purchase before it becomes available to play on all of the owner's Xbox consoles and PCs running Windows 10 or a newer version of Microsoft's operating system. The functionality also includes support for cross-platform saves, allowing fans to seamlessly switch between systems during their playthroughs.
The official Starfield page in the Xbox app has recently been updated with an Xbox Play Anywhere tag, as first spotted by Insider Gaming. This turn of events was widely expected, as most Bethesda-published multi-platform games started offering this feature shortly after Microsoft completed its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media in early 2021. Starfield will hence be joining the likes of Doom 3: BFG Edition, GhostWire: Tokyo, Quake Enhanced, and many other Bethesda titles that require only a single purchase before becoming playable across Microsoft's gaming ecosystem.
The official Xbox Play Anywhere list on the Xbox website doesn't yet mention Starfield, indicating that the aforementioned store listing might have gone live prematurely. As of August 1, the only upcoming Xbox Play Anywhere titles listed by Microsoft are Sea of Stars, WildTrax Racing, and World Soccer Pinball. But with Starfield currently being five weeks detached from its market debut, there's still ample time for Microsoft to update its database.
While the space-faring RPG is also slated to debut on Steam, those who purchase it via Valve's platform won't be able to take advantage of its Xbox Play Anywhere support, which only covers the Microsoft and Xbox Store versions of Starfield. Gamers who are already deeply invested in the Xbox ecosystem should hence find that buying the upcoming title directly from Microsoft is the option that offers maximum value for money.
While there's no doubt that a high-end gaming PC will be the best possible system for running Starfield, performance-wise, the ambitious AAA RPG should still offer a good experience on consoles. Bethesda Director Todd Howard recently suggested as much, having revealed that he's mainly been playing an early build of the game on the Xbox Series S back in mid-June. Shortly thereafter, Xbox Game Studios Head Matt Booty claimed that Starfield has the fewest bugs of any Bethesda game ever, assuring console gamers that they're in for a polished technical experience.
Starfield launches September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Insider Gaming, Xbox