Insider Says This Massive Bethesda Game Is Xbox Exclusive
The announcement of the great Bethesda and Microsoft merger has been scary for PlayStation fans, and many people have been wondering whether many of Bethesda's upcoming titles would become Xbox exclusives. Unfortunately for PlayStation players, fears of a particular Bethesda title becoming Xbox-exclusive have seemingly been confirmed by an industry insider: VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb.
On May 14, Grubb tweeted, "'Starfield' is exclusive to Xbox and PC. Period." "Starfield," one of the major upcoming Bethesda titles, has been on fans' minds since it was announced at E3 2018. There wasn't much announced at the time, but the teaser trailer was enough to send fans into a frenzy for the game. At this point, fans already know that "Starfield" will be available on Xbox Game Pass when the title launches, but now it looks like it won't be hitting the PlayStation Store at all.
While Microsoft has yet to respond to these claims, Grubb essentially told his followers that his information was set in stone. He tweeted, "I don't mean I'm confirming it for Microsoft, I mean I've confirmed it in terms of my reporting." Naturally, this news caused a good bit of discourse between gaming fans on Twitter.
Fans weren't too happy to hear about the game becoming an exclusive.
One user mentioned that the news was disappointing, considering fans were excited for this game way before the Xbox's acquisition of Bethesda was publicly announced. Another Twitter user accused Xbox of "gate keeping."
There were also those who didn't believe Grubbs or shared their hope that "Starfield" might end up being a timed exclusive on Xbox. Twitter user @tidy183 pointed out that "Xbox said 'Cuphead' was [an] Xbox exclusive," but that it eventually arrived on other platforms. Others, like @shadowtharapper, don't believe that Bethesda would be willing to get rid of all the work that may have been done on a PlayStation version of the game.
Gaming companies across the board, including Sony, have been trying to secure exclusives for every console, and even PC stores like Epic Games and Steam have been trying to win over more developers. For many, it wasn't a surprise to hear that Bethesda would be producing exclusives for Microsoft. In fact, some fans have noted that there were rumors that Sony tried to buy "timed exclusivity" for "Starfield" before the merger happened. This latest news may have been decided much earlier than fans even realize.