Starfield is one of, if not the, most anticipated game to be released in 2023, in what is Bethesda's first new IP in over 25 years.
People are very excited about Starfield, and they have good reason to be, with the recent Xbox and Starfield showcase demonstrating how Bethesda's new game will have over 1000 planets to explore, player customisation, ship customisation, base building and much more. The upcoming space-faring RPG has also been name-checked in Microsoft's recent legal battle with the FTC, with Phil Spencer dropping bombshells about battles for Starfield exclusivity in the past.
On that note, is Starfield coming to PS5? We've got all the info that will answer that very question.
Will Starfield be on PS5?
No, Starfield will not be available on PS5 consoles, or any PlayStation console for that matter, as it's an Xbox-exclusive title. The upcoming open-world game will be released on Xbox Series X|S on September 6, 2023, and will also be available to play on Xbox Game Pass on day one (which has just gone up in price), but it will not be released on Xbox One consoles.
But, it could have easily been very different, according to Xbox head Phil Spencer. The proposed Microsoft Activision deal is currently having its day in federal court after legal action by the United States' FTC; and Spencer dropped an absolute zinger during proceedings, claiming that Starfield could have been a PlayStation-exclusive title, and that Sony was actively brokering a deal with Bethesda. But, instead, Microsoft bought ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion, Bethesda's parent company, and Starfield then became an Xbox-exclusive title, much like Redfall.
“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.”
This revelation plays very nicely into one of the main concerns around Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision, which is what happens to Call of Duty titles when or if the acquisition goes through? But Spencer also had an answer to that, saying that he 'whatever it takes' to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Okay mate, we believe you.
