Starfield Will Not Stay Exclusive to Xbox, Says Phil Spencer

Starfield will not remain exclusive to Xbox, according to Phil Spencer. Xbox is one of the big three gaming consoles out there next to PlayStation and Nintendo. For many years, Xbox and PlayStation were pretty similar machines and the biggest difference between them were the exclusive titles they had to offer. If you were more of a shooter fan, you may be more interested in playing Xbox as it had Gears of War and Halo. Those looking for more action/adventure games may look to PlayStation for Uncharted and God of War. However, things have changed pretty dramatically in the last five years or so as both platforms have changed their business models.

PlayStation has begun to put its games on PC after a year or two on PS5 and Xbox has been making its games available on a multitude of platforms, including Nintendo Switch and PS5. Part of this is because Xbox wants to make its games more available to other players and generate additional revenue, specifically on games that are already pretty old and have been available on Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft seems keen on supporting Xbox Game Pass on its own hardware and platforms, but sees a way at making money on its games on outside hardware like PlayStation. With that said, there have been a lot of questions about which Xbox games will remain exclusive, if any.

Starfield May Come to PS5 Soon

Last year, Xbox confirmed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would come to PS5 in 2025 which was pretty surprising since its one of Xbox’s best games in years. Fans have been wondering if arguably its biggest game of the generation, Starfield, would come to PS5 as it was reportedly in development for the console before Microsoft bought Bethesda. Well, it seems like it will. YouTuber Destin Legarie asked Xbox boss Phil Spencer if he could say whether or not Starfield will remain exclusive to Xbox to which he responded “No”. Spencer then talked about how Xbox has no desire to limit its games to its own consoles and sees more success by making its games available everywhere.

“There is no reason for me to put a ring fence around any game and say this game will not go to a place that it would find players, where it would have business success for us,” said Spencer. “What we find is we’re able to drive a better business that allows us to invest in great game line-up like you saw. And that’s our strategy. Our strategy is allow our games to be available. Game Pass is an important component to playing the games on our platform. But to keep games off of other platforms, that’s not a path for us. It doesn’t work for us.”

He noted that the world’s best games are available on multiple platforms and that Xbox’s flexibility to bringing games elsewhere makes it unique. It’s rumored that Xbox is going to be one of the biggest publishers for Nintendo Switch 2 with plans to bring Halo: The Master Chief Collection to PS5 and Switch 2 later this year. None of this has been confirmed, but it does sound incredibly plausible. With Xbox reportedly planning a big multiplatform push later this year, it would not be remotely surprising to see Starfield coming to PS5 this fall or summer.

It’s a very different approach and one that is extremely controversial among Xbox fans. However, it is one that Xbox may need to do in order to stay competitive. If hardware sales are slowing down or falling leagues behind its competitors, making sure that it can drive sales of its biggest games would be critical. However, Xbox hasn’t been putting its games on other platforms day and date for the most part, so it’s possible Xbox will continue having staggered releases to try and please fans and drive more people toward its hardware to get games sooner than other platforms.