Starfield
Xbox’s Phil Spencer was at Gamescom this week, making some news here and there, including a note that no, Xbox Series X isn’t getting a mid-gen “Pro” refresh the way PS5 might. But he also talked about Starfield, Xbox’s most important game of this generation, most likely, and how much he’s played so far.
Spencer told IGN that he has 200 hours into Starfield since last November, and he’s on his 15th playthrough. That does not mean that he’s fully beaten the game 15 times (200/15 = 13.3 hours per playthrough, which isn’t right), but because of how versions of games work in development, saves are often not compatible as you progress through different versions, so you have to start over. But I suppose it says something that he has restarted 15 times during development.
Spencer also says that he’s going full “space pirate,” where as we’ve learned through past info and the recent showcase, you can attack and board civilian ships and smuggle and sell contraband in the game. So that appears to be what he’s currently doing.
Also, Spencer says that Starfield is “more Oblivion than Skyrim” and that “for people who’ve played, maybe they’ll get that.” As someone who has played I am…not saying anything about that. Nope. No way. You won’t trick me into breaking embargo, Phil Spencer.
Spencer concludes by calling it an “epic, epic game,” and Bethesda has repeatedly said that Starfield is the most ambitious thing they’ve ever done, and largest, by far.
It is hard to understate just how much Xbox has riding on Starfield with a console generation that doesn’t seem to be going all that much better than the Xbox One, and the fact that they need to start getting hits out of these purchased developers. This year alone already brought one bomb from Arkane, a place normally known for hits, in the form of Redfall.
Starfield as a big, well-received hit would change the narrative around Xbox for a while and show that perhaps the brand is turning over a new leaf after all these purchases at last, bolstering their first party credentials.
Starfield being a poorly-reviewed miss would do the opposite, and the narrative would be that if they can’t even get a good game out of a sprawling Bethesda project, which should almost be a sure thing, what hope do they really have with bigger risks like Fable and Perfect Dark going forward?
We have exactly a week until the embargo drops on Starfield reviews and the game launches in early access late on August 31. I will be sharing my own thoughts then, based on a whole lot of playtime. But not uh, 200 hours.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
