
Microsoft made a big decision last summer when it decided to delay Starfield, with the Xbox exclusive now set to launch in the first half of 2023. At the time, fans were understandably frustrated at the delay, but Xbox says it learnt from past experiences when making the decision.
Speaking recently with The Verge, Xbox boss Phil Spencer talked about how the team has experience with launching games too early.
"It isn’t really a decision to move a game after spending the team’s effort over multiple years just to get to a point where you know you’re not going to deliver the game you want on the date that was promised. Now, it is at some level, because I have shipped games too early. We have experienced shipping games too early."
"In hindsight, when you look at a game like Starfield, it’s taken so long and so much investment in new IP from the team. The decision to give the team the time to build the game that they feel they should be building is just the right thing to do."
"There are financial implications to those decisions. Weighing what is going to happen, whether it’s platform growth, subscriber growth, or frankly, the revenue that you generate when a new game launches, those are business decisions. You definitely have to weigh the outcome of those decisions."
Now, unfortunately Phil doesn't namedrop any of these 'shipped too early' titles (damnit, we'd have loved a scoop!), but a few certainly come to mind. Crackdown 3 - we're looking at you!
Either way, Phil and the team clearly believe that Bethesda's upcoming RPG deserves a little more time in the oven, and honestly, we're glad to see that decision being made. 2022 ended up being a light year for Xbox, but in the end, Starfield stands to benefit from its relatively short delay.
Do you think it was the right call to move Starfield to 2023? Let us know down below.
[source theverge.com]
Comments 26
@Kaloudz lazy response on my part but you have covered it all and agree so ill just say, second that.
Well, the game has been in development for at least six years so it better be Game of the Year ready. No excuses with this one. I feel a lot is riding on this for Microsoft.
I think Halo Infinite was great. I think the main issue with that is just the choice of engine and the mess of the studio which has made the dlc production go awful
Halo Infinite campaign needed Co-op at launch and more content in multiplayer. Makes me grateful for Playground Games and The Coalition who seem to release stellar games at launch
If it makes for better games, I don’t mind waiting. There’s other games I can play while I’m waiting.
Forza will be the only game that comes out of Xbox next year as a top end AAA and critically acclaimed. Like up there with FH5, GOWR and Zelda BOTW, or there a bouts.
Everything else will be sub par. And let’s not forget the big three Redfall, Forza, Starfield all before end of June 2023 Phil the PR GUY😂.
Outside of the USA or currently including the USA Xbox will drag third and continue to loose momentum.
You have a lot lower powerful nearly six year console and a more expensive console, both with inferior consoles and a more expensive console with expensive games and both with no Game Pass release games day one, out selling Xbox in every major sector and worldwide and week on week now. That is were Phil and Microsoft have put Xbox after two years. Joke.
Still have high hopes for Starfield. Really want them to deliver. Fingers crossed they do.
@Romans12
5-7 years seems to be a norm for any new AAA game IPs now a days that are built from the ground up.
I don't think time can be considered an indicator of quality though. It took a decade for Duke Nukem Forever and it was garbage. The Last Guardian on PS3 took 7 years and didn't even ship on PS3 and it wasn't GOTY.
GOTY is more about quality of the shipped product and competition in the market that year.
Someone already said it, but Halo Infinite is 100% the elephant in the room with this statement.
I loved infinite but I only play the single player campaigns. I'd much rather see Starfield delayed and be good. Reading between the lines, I think he sounds optimistic about it (is that wishful thinking?). Kind of saying this has potential to be a great game, want it to live up to that instead of releasing too early
I feel like "let's never ever release anything on time ever again except Forza Horizon" was a bit of an overreaction.
@Dezzy70 that and just flat out brand loyalty. PlayStation is the name along with Nintendo that is known for video games around the world. Xbox is big enough to have a reason to exist. It’s even Big enough to never hit the low’s of a Wii U or Dreamcast etc etc, but no matter what they do, they aren’t going to outsell PS worldwide. However with the right games and moves i think Series consoles could move 80-85 million units and thats a solid 3rd place finish that is far from embarrassing. Plus brought a lot of gamers great fun and they will continue to buy into the xbox ecosystem more and more. I am frustrated a tad with xbox first party this year of course, not trying to make excuses for them. But the brand is still plenty strong, i refuse to play 3rd party games with a PS4 or PS5 controller. Xbox controller alone gets them all my 3rd party game purchases. Throw in smart delivery and some other features and i am still loving my Series X, but i know it’s time for the game to start showing up 😊
@Green-Bandit
When the new big AAA games show up I shall return, of course if they are very good.
Until then my confidence in Microsoft stays at around 2 out of 10 roughly.
They had enough chances and excuses time to deliver them.
First of all, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed the article very much so please don't take too much offence to this but, "we'd of loved a scoop!"? Really?!?!? I think what you mean is 'we'd've loved a scoop'.
It's difficult enough keeping my OCD rage in check reading the comments on this site, and others, where the average commenter is evidently oblivious to contractions and therefore types in a more phonetic manner and, as such, I generally manage to bottle my urge to scream but, when it's coming from the author of the article......OCD rage wins out! Apologies, but the author of an article should do better. Loved it otherwise.
@LoquaciousB Oops! That one just slipped through... thanks for pointing it out! Fixed
@Dezzy70 i feel ya, they for sure haven’t been consistent. Didn’t help that until they starting obtaining studios they only had like 5, so right from the start they were going to be first party content starved. Now they have them in large numbers, so it time to start seeing what those teams are working on. I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty solid to go along with the big 3rd party titles coming in 2023 and beyond. So early next year and onward if you and others have nothing to play on Xbox then I agree that is a major letdown. For me as soon as Diablo 4 comes out to go alongside Overwatch 2 i will be all set. But everyone has different things they are looking forward to playing and sinking time into. As Great as God of War is, it’s easy for me to beat it and then have the PS5 collect dust until another exclusive comes along i want to play.
@Green-Bandit
Remember I’m a big new AAA game player be it on whatever console, so this year 2022 has been tough for Xbox and me. Switch been ok ish 2022. But PS5 very good 2022 HFW and GOWR. Maybe next year 2023 things will change.
Switch confirmed date for BOTW 2.
PS5 maybe PSVR2 I shall try first, confirmed date.
Xbox 2023 no confirmed dates so far just empty promises and a question mark on overall AAA quality, so far, That’s the bottom line I’m afraid.
Third party games I can choose what console.
Time will tell we shall see. The joys of me now having all 3 consoles.
Halo infinite & crackdown 3 are the most obvious examples on Xbox
@FraserG Apologies for being "That Guy"!
@BBB they're using creation engine again so I don't see this one having a very good performance
@LoquaciousB No problem at all 👍
@Dezzy70 that make sense to me, i also love the AAA game experience and own all 3 consoles to make sure i can access them all. I agree that first party is bad for xbox, but it won’t stay that way, now if certain players will like the games or not is subjective. But games are coming and many of which aren’t small 15-30 hour games. Many of which are massive RPG’s that will have 100’s of hours. So those take time to get ready but will also take up our time and make the next wave of games not feel so far away. The switch stunk for me in 2022, i was really hoping for Zelda Wind Waker HD and Metroid Prime, Sony was great for the most part for me in 2022, but 2023 could be much slower. MS has the ability to make 2023 and beyond a load fare. But ability and faith is two different things, and much like yourself i will take a wait and see and prove it approach.
You can say whatever you want Phil, you havent had a single game nominated for GOTY in the last 10 years. Get something released will ya?
I can honestly say when I think of Xbox I don’t think about them as ‘rushing out games’ when it feels like they’ve delivered a handful of games over the 8 years since Phil has been head. But those that have been released have certainly released lacking.
How Phil has only just learned in the last couple of months that announcing and releasing games before they’re ready is bad I don’t know. Maybe we should be thankful it’s only taken him 8 years?
Guy is just bad at his job. He should be put on the marketing team instead - he’s great PR face, little more.
@BrilliantBill right, there is that. If they wait another year, everything is ready but everyone is mad. And more likely, unless it was an 11/10, gaming outlets and gamers would've torn Infinite a new one. So it is fair to say that while not optimal, that was probably the smarter move.
Now you have taken took long. Been in development for so long there is no way it doesn't feel and look dated.
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