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Bethesda Softworks’ Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop were timed console exclusives on PlayStation 5. And now it’s been confirmed that Starfield was almost on a similar path at one time.
Sony was allegedly trying to get Starfield first
According to The Verge, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer spoke about Starfield in the Federal Trade Commission hearings regarding Microsoft and Activision. He said that the Deathloop and Ghostwire deals between Sony and Bethesda were some of the factors that led to Xbox’s pursuit of ZeniMax, which was then seemingly sped up by whispers of Sony’s attempts to nab Bethesda Game Studios’ sci-fi RPG.
“When we acquired ZeniMax, one of the impetus for that is that Sony had done a deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire to pay Bethesda to not ship those games on Xbox,” said Spencer. “So the discussion about Starfield when we heard that Starfield was potentially also going to end up skipping Xbox, we can’t be in a position as a third-place console where we fall further behind on our content ownership so we’ve had to secure content to remain viable in the business.”
It’s possible that Starfield would have just been a timed exclusive if the deal had gone through, but it’s unclear. This is also not the first time this has popped up, as journalist Imran Khan noted in September 2020 that Sony had recently been pursuing timed exclusivity on Starfield.
Starfield was confirmed to be an Xbox console exclusive in June 2021. Senior vice president of global marketing and communications at Bethesda Softworks Pete Hines even apologized to PlayStation players for its exclusivity.
The trial has been full of talks regarding exclusivity. Indiana Jones will be an Xbox and PC exclusive, but it’s still up in the air if The Outer Worlds 2 and The Elder Scrolls 6 will come to PlayStation. Spencer also said he’d do “whatever it takes” to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.