Starfield is set to release in September via PC and Xbox Series X|S. At one point, before Xbox bought Bethesda and stepped in, the game was also in development for PS5. That said, according to Bethesda boss Pete Hines, the space-faring RPG is a better game as a result of not coming to PS5. And this has nothing to do with the PS5 but the simple fact that developing for fewer skews makes development easier, which in turn improves a game. One of the key reasons so many exclusive games — no matter the platform — are some of the best games is the fewer platforms you have to develop for the easier it is. Further, those saved resources that would be spent bringing optimizing the game for additional platforms can be dumped back into the actual game itself.ย
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Speaking to this, the aforementioned Pete Hines described the Xbox exclusivity of the game as being a “big benefit to the team.” And by team, Hines, in particular, is referring to those that test the game, as their resources aren’t spread as thin.ย
“The fewer platforms you have [quality assurance testers] focused on, the more rounds of testing they can do; if you have 100 people testing two platforms, you can put 50 on each. If you have three, the math tells you [that] you have fewer people on those games. You’re finding fewer problems, you’re not going as fast. It’s going to take longer, it’s going to cost more.”
“As someone who has been playing it a lot and sees all this stuff to do there’s no question in my mind that being able to focus on fewer platforms to support, hardware to support, has been a big benefit to that team,” added Hines elsewhere.ย
The previous two Bethesda Game Studios releases — Fallout 4 and Skyrim — were both multi-platform and both were very buggy. Skyrim on the PS3 was infamously buggy. If Starfield releases and it’s largely bug free in comparison than there may be a salient point to what Hines is saying. However, Starfield is also getting more development time than previous games which helps a lot as well.
Starfield is set to release worldwide on September 6 via PC, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. When it releases it will be available via a $69.99 purchase as well as Xbox Game Pass.
H/T, Polygon.
