Today, Xbox confirmed Bethesda’s first new IP in twenty-five years, Starfield. The reveal came at the joint Xbox and Bethesda E3 conference. Significantly, the Starfield will be exclusive to Xbox and PC, skipping PlayStation consoles entirely.
Currently, little is known about Starfield, the first new franchise from Bethesda since The Elder Scrolls. Unsurprisingly, it follows in the footsteps of other Bethesda games, as an immersive RPG. The game was first teased with a cinematic on the official Bethesda website, showing the rim of a mysterious red planet, and a rising sun. From there, an angular ship blasts into hyperspace, leaving the game shrouded in mystery. That teaser released at E3 in 2018, and today’s conference is the first news we’ve had on Starfield since.
Unfortunately, the game’s announcement was first leaked ahead several hours before the Xbox and Bethesda conference. Bethesda head Todd Howard called the game ‘an epic about hope [and] our shared humanity.’ From there, the new teaser trailer was shown off. With Aliens-inspired spaceships and an ominous voiceover, Starfield looks every bit as detailed as other Bethesda games. The trailer shows off a variety of locales, from rocky planets to the rich depths of space. Interestingly, there’s no gameplay to see yet. However, the intensity and mystique around this sci-fi world more than make up for that.
Starfield is due for release on November 11, 2022 – exactly ten years after the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Crucially, the trailer confirmed releases on Xbox Series X|S and PC, meaning no PlayStation 5 version is releasing. While this is a huge disappointment for PlayStation owners, it certainly shows how committed Xbox is to Bethesda games. This also marks the first large exclusive since Microsoft purchased Bethesda in March 2021. While there aren’t any plot details yet, Bethesda’s first release since 2015’s Fallout 4 looks set to revolutionize RPGs once more.
