It's happened folks, Starfield has officially been delayed and we're still coming to terms with it. However, delays often result in better games, and a Tweet from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier only serves to highlight what could have happened without a delay.
Schreier dropped this little anecdote on Twitter, just after Bethesda announced a delay to Starfield. Developers working on the game were reportedly worried that the 2022 release date could have led to a rough launch, or even, the "next Cyberpunk", of course referring to Cyberpunk 2077's launch.
Apparently, this conversation happened around a year ago, so it's hardly a representation of how the game is shaping up in 2022. However, if true, some developers were clearly worried about the launch date and its potential affect on the game's quality.
For now, all we know for sure is that Starfield is aiming to release sometime in the first half of 2023.
What do you make of Starfield's delay? Is it a good thing? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 57
I dont understand why they keep announcing games so early. Just announce them when you are 100% sure it's ready. Nowadays they get announced so early only for them to get delays multiple times.
Never go full Cyberpunk
I'm still going to keep it optimistic, hopefully Xbox has at least 3 first party titles for this year. I doubt Gears 6 is going to be one of them but Forza Motorsport and Hellblade 2 certainly could be.
@Chaudy There needs to be some kind of target deadline, otherwise it will just drag on indefinitely. The game director should know enough about the scope of the game and their production team to get a good ballpark date of when the game should finish, delaying only to polish things up.
Anyway...calling your own game the possible "Next Cyberpunk" has reeeeeeally lessened my interest in this one. I'm certain it'll be "more of the same" instead of anything remotely revolutionary.
This has me nervous for Xbox. I love this ecosystem, but last generation I went with PlayStation because of the games. This delay, although it sucks, is necessary to have a better game in the end - but what games do we have on the horizon for this year? This upcoming showcase is going to be very important for them. In fact, I think it could make or break them if there is no confirmed AAA games coming this year. If not, they better have some huge announcements for Game Pass - perhaps Gotham Knights releasing day 1. Ultimately, they need something because this trend cannot continue as it has been for years now.
Wasn't Bethesda the original Cyberpunk?
MS not having big new games we know of is definitely a blow. They possibly have surprises. We don't know what some of their studios have in store. Otherwise their 2022 strategy will probably be to heavily bolster GP with high demand 3rd party content.
OTOH, it's not like we know much about Sony's year either, but from what they do know it also seems pretty barren. The last SoP was pretty much all multiplat 3rd party as well, and of what we do know it's about as inevitably delayed as Starfield was.
The most hilarious part is Xbox One X-X / PS 4 Pro Plus has me more excited for Switch than I've been since 2017!
That was literally the only Xbox exclusive I was looking forward to... where are the games? Microsoft owns like half the world and they can't release any exclusives?? 😂
Then why announce it for 2022. Again xbox created fake hype. Maybe they should hire Sony management to make sure this gets done in a timely manner.
Wondering if they pushing back as well to when they think activision deal is done so they raise gamepass to $30 and get some money from Starfield.
I genuinely can't think of another game I want to play on Xbox this year and even outside of my own opinions this has to be a big blow for them.
That aside I'm glad they're listening to the people making the game and giving them more time to fix it before launching
Well this does suck but it's definitely a sign that Xbox buying them out is having a positive effect. In no way would i expect zenimax to delay this if they were in charge and it would get rushed out. Also happy that the cyberpunk debacle is making big devs actually launch finished products.
@carlos82 Halo Infinite co-op? Maybe? Lol.
I do wonder if it was "Todd Howard" ready but not everyone else's version of ready - whether it's him or Bethesda's previous cash issues, they've had a habit of releasing games that are pretty buggy - and once Xbox leadership visited this week they spoke to the developers themselves and looked at it and made the call.
It's obviously extremely disappointing, and I think they have to have some surprise games at the Showcase ready to go this year (like FH5 last year) - if not, then yes they need to get the chequebook out for some massive Game Pass deals otherwise those subscriber numbers will go in reverse (for example, many like me might be on All Access, which gives GP for 2 years and for launch consoles ends in November).
I understand the pandemic has screwed a lot of stuff up, and that integrating all these studios (many of which had just released games or had multi-platform deals when bought) will take time - but they do need to get their house in order otherwise we're going to be most of the way through this generation before we start most of their output...
@Chaudy Plagues Tale is also for 2022 i thought?
@Krzzystuff Instead it will be the next Fallout 76 <sic>
I sincerely hope not, and I sincerely hope that this time they release a solid game.
@Krzzystuff Thats a multi plat game. Lots of them being released!
Forza Motorsport is the only first party Xbox exclusive I can see coming out this year but we'll have to see what happens at the Xbox event in June.
Wow, going the entire year without even one major first-party launch, huh?
Glad I own a Switch. The graphics might be a bit fuzzy at times, but I'm drowning in fun games I want to play.
With that said, how far behind in development are they that they're fearing a Cyberpunk-type situation? CP2077 wasn't just lacking a few months worth of polish, after all.
So will we still see Star Field at the Xbox event!? I was pretty sure we would, now I’m not 🤣 I’ll probably still be playing Elden Ring by then so I’m not too bothered but it’s a blow to Xbox for sure.
Ps. Jason Schreier is human trash.
@Krzzystuff yes but that's a 3rd Party game. There's others like Replaced, Atomic Heart and Somerville.
From first party xbox studios, there's nothing for 2022. Of course that could change next month during the showcase.
So will redfall and starfield now releasing in 2023 push back some other titles that were due that year?
@Ralizah
That is a good question. After all Cyberpunk took more like a year to really get it to a good place. If Starfield was almost in the same boat I would not be too surprised if it was delayed further than the 1st half of 2023.
We live in the age of mass media. Developers are pressured to give ETA’s on their software to keep share holders happy and stay ahead of data miners. It’s tough keeping your projects secret anymore.
@Korgon Yeah, the Cyberpunk comparison is worrying.
I've been wondering why we haven't seen almost anything about a game that was supposedly launching this year, and this just concerns me even more. It actually does remind me of how Cyberpunk kept getting, like, half-year delays, which we eventually learned was just them scrambling to put together something playable (on PC; console releases were a total mess).
Hugely disappointing but better this than doing a Cyberpunk.
But why the hell did they announce a specific release date 18 months in advance???
And are Xbox Game Studios publishing ANY new games in 2022? We're 5 months in and nothing. Surely Deathloop will come to Xbox but many will have played that on PC or PS5, anything else? Xbox continue to seem to have a problem managing their studios.
On the bright side i'm sure they will pay for some extra special third party titles on Game Pass to make up for the drought in the meantime.
Great! I will still like to see it on June's showcase.
@themightyant timelines are getting fuzzy but didn’t they abounce the date way before the Omicron variant blew up? It’s possible all the pandemic spikes we had since have slowed development. And am certain the same has also happened to GOW.
Two different issues going on now… delay is good for the games. Delay isn’t good for the service. What are ms offering us from their studios this year for the service? Is this going to be yet another example of Xbox poor management where they have nothing to fill the gaps… is Forza this year enough from a publisher with so many studios under them who have revealed so many games years in advance.
It must be for a stockholders thing because I think most gamers now would rather games get announced and teased within months of their releases…rather than years. Yet we keep getting the same patterns. Delays are always going to hurt more.
@Tharsman Starfield date? That was revealed last year in June I think for Xbox ‘e3’ show
@Ralizah
Funny, I have been feeling the same way recently - I LOVE my Series X, but have also been overwhelmed with the amount entertaining Switch games that I can just lie in bed with. On my OLED switch (and every Switch for that matter), it still looks like a miracle to have such immersive games on a handheld.
Disappointed in the delay like everyone else, but my backlog would take me until 2025, so I think I'm good
@Tharsman The pandemic has definitely impacted development times and will continue to do so for years to come.
That still doesn't explain why they gave a firm date 18 months in advance, ESPECIALLY in the middle of a pandemic. They've shot themselves in the foot on this one.
He can't keep getting away with it - Jesse from Breaking Bad
@SplooshDmg A 3080 Ti? I hope you didn't need that kidney you probably needed to sell.
PC is really turning into the ultimate gaming platform, isn't it? Sony is increasingly turning to PC for support as it struggles with this chip shortage. All MS games release on there now. It gets its own version of GP. Almost universal Japanese game support. Even Nintendo console-exclusive stuff like MH Rise releases on there.
It even has hybrid play appeal via the Steam Deck!
It's wild, considering I'm old enough to remember when PC gaming sucked compared to consoles.
I understand Microsoft isn't laser-focused on console sales anymore, but they really do need to do something as a gesture for the people who bought their next-gen console. Especially on top of that issue that cropped up recently with digital games on Xbox and widespread discontent about Halo Infinite.
@Alstil This sort of thing is why I'm kinda glad Nintendo hardware is still a couple generations behind on a technical level. Games take SO MUCH LONGER to develop now. It's nice having a system where fun, colorful exclusives still release pretty consistently on a system I can carry around with me (I'm actually gaming on Switch Lite almost exclusively lately, since the original model is a little hefty for my liking).
Even on Switch's off-years, they still manage multiple first-party game launches.
beyond disappointed. Let's be 100 honest. in a year and a half, Microsoft has delivered ZERO Series X games. none. nothing. we've gotten a ton of CG trailers and promises. Forza Horizon came out great, but it would have been great one Xbox one. Halo was pretty good, but the fact is, in a year and a half, they simply haven't delivered. they'd better damn well have something more than a bunch of trailers on June 12th. If i'm Sony, God of War is DEFINITELY coming out this year. 3 major exclusives in one year, when Microsoft can't get ONE over the goal line? it would be a bad look.
@Microbius ROFL smoldering beloved pigeon!!! You win the day good sir.
@themightyant last summer, what in hindsight seems like naive (we know what they say about hindsight) a ridiculous amount of the world thought the pandemic was over.
Honestly, 18 months was so far away that it might had been realistic without COVID. This game been in development for nearly 10 years now.
I guess Cyberpunk will forever be known in video game development as an example of what NOT to do.
Just need God of War Ragnarok to be delayed and then that's the big top 3 most anticipated games delayed until 2023 (BOTW 2, Starfield)!
@armondo36 Sony's running on all delays, too. HFW was a 2021 game delayed to 2022. GT7 was a "launch window" game in 2021!! GoW Ragnarok....IDK, Cory's wording after they reconfirmed 2022 (it was a delayed 2021 game) in response to rage pointed to continued uncertainty as to if it really is a hard 2022, with a more vague wording. I'd say like with Hulst last year with HFW, it may, or it may not happen. And Starfield not coming out takes a lot of pressure off them pushing it before they're really ready. It's not just MS, they're both heavily delaying.
All we have a "2022" on other than GoW from Sony is PSVR2 hardware, but I find it really unlikely that happens. They put the signup up, and then haven't said much at all since, and the chip shortage now running to 2024 doesn't bode well for new hardware in 2022.
@Ralizah I don't think Switch owners have a place to talk about going a year without major releases....
@Rural-Bandit Could be a surprise date reveal for late 2022
@NEStalgia There hasn't been a year without at least a few notable exclusive releases on Switch. It's been the most consistently well-supported console this gen in terms of exclusive content.
I'm sure MS isn't going to have nothing, it'll be like a Nintendo "weak" year I'm sure. Some b-tier games people aren't hyped about I'm sure will happen, and FM8 probably.
Plus, Halo Infinite might finally launch! (ba-dum-tss)
Want to avoid all this as a developer? Follow my golden rule.
Unless the game is guaranteed to go gold within 6 months - - shut mouth about the game, pretend doesn't exist.
Problem solved. It's not hard.
“A delayed game will eventually be like Cyberpunk 2077” - Miyamoto, probably
@NEStalgia Sony has actually managed to release some actual PS5 games. Microsoft has yet to put a SINGLE Series X game out in a year and a half, lol. it's insane, the level of mismanagement they continue to operate under. June 12th looms HUGE now.
@armondo36 I'd look more at what GAMES either company has released than "Next gen/last gen" split. They've both put out some good games in the past few years. Having played most of the exclusives on both, there's nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing "next gen" about what either company has put out. It's a PS "fanboy" argument to go on about how Sony has "real" PS5 games and MS doesn't have "real" XSX games. Most of Sony's are cross gen, and the ones that aren't really could have been, and I assume they locked them for business reasons, or restricted them because they didn't want to budge on the 60fps mode for perception reasons. And 2 of them are Microsoft's games... Microsoft, similarly has mostly been releasing cross-gen (and multiplat) titles.
People get hung up on "Sony released a few games that won't run on a PS4 so they have more next gen games", but that's a misguided view. GT7 that may be genuine with the physics involved, so there's one. But Returnal, Souls, R&C, have nothing in their design that couldn't have worked on the older consoles, they just set a fidelity minimum and didn't want to render lower. The R&C portal SSD gimmick isn't really what it was cracked up to be in gameplay, it was a set piece.
All good games, but you could take any of those Sony "next gen exclusives" and port them to a Switch with enough cuts visually. HFW is bigger and more complicated than any of the PS5-only titles, and that was designed entirely for PS4. Ragnarok started as a GoW DLC, and is cross-gen.
As of mid-2022, it's entirely misguided to get hung up on which company has more "next gen". The reality is neither of them do yet, except a few games that artificially limited BC or didn't want to run at a lower target for creative reasons but could have. It's best just to look at the games themselves, regardless of generation, for both.
Heck, CP2077 is the most "next-gen" thing out there......
@NEStalgia no, my point is that Microsoft has struggled to get games out for YEARS. no fanboy argument, truth. in a year and a half, they have, again, managed to released if i'm being generous, 2 games. their next 2 "big" games, delayed. they have a history of not being able to get this stuff done. it is what it is. i have a Series X, but Microsoft has to get their crap together. end of.
@Leuke It doesn't flip like a switch. Bethesda acquisition was just completed, Activision/Blizzard isn't even completed. I'd suggest waiting for the showcase in June and see what their promises are. I'm not saying you are wrong, I think we just have to have a bit more patience with the process.
@NEStalgia Gran Turismo 7 is on PS4, though.
@armondo36 I remember when MS launched Windows '95. In '96. And then there was Windows: Infinite....I mean Millennium.
Yeah, if you're just comparing total games, I can get that to a degree, both companies have released some good stuff, I guess by raw count Sony released more, though they had barren years at the "end" of PS4 that looked like they abandoned early to focus on PS5, and then after PS5 launched the glut of missing PS4 games started arriving, instead. I just don't get into the "next gen vs. cross-gen" debate, because neither console is really there.
MS had Halo (kinda?), Psychonauts 2, FH5, Flight Sim, AoE3 (on PC-only though, but it's coming to console and that's kinda big when it does.) Ori 2. Good games, but yeah, we always knew they'd be delayed since they only got started after the buyouts. I didn't really expect them to get really steamrolling until 2024 or so, so Starfield was a huge surprise to supposedly be early. And MS is always working on SoT which I ignore, but i know it's a hit.
I have a feeling they were trying to rush some things and then after Halo Infinite went down controversially, they're regrouping on quality.
@Ralizah Geeeeeze, Sony.... I somehow hadn't even remembered that.
@iplaygamesnstuff Agreed, let's hope they got some good stuff in reserve, otherwise 2022 is going to be so boring 😂
@Chaudy I'd be shocked if we got Hellblade 2 before 2023. Yes, we technically did get a gameplay trailer for it already, but that was it so far. I expect it to be a part of the June showcase, but at the same time, I find it hard to believe it will make it out this year either given that we have seen very little of it so far. There's a 0% chance Gears 6 comes out this year. There would have been something from it by now if it was given how important that game is.
As for delaying both Starfield and Redfall, it's all well and good since it's better to delay than release a mess of a game, but this also points to major weaknesses that are still present with Xbox no matter how many studios they buy. They have 0 guaranteed AAA exclusives for this year now (that could change next month), with 3 games releasing in a handful of months last year being it for them so far this generation. Also, like others have said, they still announce things way too early just to try to say "hey, we've got games now!". Announcing the release date for Starfield that was roughly a year and a half away was asinine, and now we're still left wondering when all of the potential they have shown with acquisitions and teaser trailers will finally start being fulfilled.
@GamingFan4Lyf developers / publishers were doing it way before cyberpunk that game just got the most attention ironically Bethesda are one of the biggest culprits for releasing broken buggy games
@Leuke FH5 still has to expansions one likely to drop in June during the showcase. Those are usually fun.
I can wait for a better game. I already have too many games to finish over the next few years. As long as development is going well and they are happy with the result so far, it's all good.
Forza 8 could come this year and so might Hellblade 2. I'm actually more excited about those games until I see actual gameplay of Starfield.
@NEStalgia it's not about Sony or Nintendo. Microsoft has a long-term systemic issue with how they manage their studios. Of their last 4 big releases, 3 have been delayed. There's always an excuse, always "wait until next year".
@armondo36 Yeah but my point is that seems normal for all the companies now, so why single out MS?
I get that the optics are worse because they started behind so they had less out of the gate than the others, so the relays look/feel worse because they didn't have a lot in the queue to release before it. But objectively the delays aren't really different from Sony or anyone else.
Their real problem is they did the WiiU E3 2013 trick and the PS4 E3 2014 trick where they showed the entire generations worth of exclusives, years before release, all in one sizzle reel with a coming soon tag because they were in the same position as Nintendo in 2012 and Sony in 2014. That always makes the early years seem worse
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