Open-world sci-fi RPG Starfield is one of the biggest games to launch this year. With its immersive, interconnected web of questlines, the game takes you on a long adventure in space. Flush with NPCs, Starfield gives you ample choices to craft your experience your way. PlayStation players would have been hoping to see Starfield release on the PS5 and PS4 sometime in the future since it launched only on Xbox consoles and PCs. Here is what we know about Starfield’s PS5 launch.
Bethesda Games: Microsoft Calling the Shots
Though Bethesda games like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls have come to PlayStation in the past, that was before Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Game Studios. After the acquisition, Bethesda has come under the wings of Xbox Game Studios and is their subsidiary studio now.
Ever since Microsoft acquired Bethesda, there was a widespread opinion in the gaming community that now every Bethesda title is either going to be made Xbox-exclusive or launched on just Xbox and PC, which is what the logic behind buying out a game studio says. And with the way Bethesda game launches have happened after the acquisition, the chances of them coming to Sony’s PlayStation look slim.
Starfield Is Bethesda’s Biggest Game Now
It may be the case that Microsoft would allow a few games to launch on Sony’s PlayStation. But it wouldn’t want to part with Starfield since it has become the biggest Bethesda title and has already trounced Skyrim’s all-time peak concurrent players record on Steam.
As per SteamDB, Starfield hit an all-time player peak of 330,723 more than a week ago, thus beating Skyrim’s all-time player peak of 287,411.
The space exploration game has 72.47% positive reviews (SteamDB) and has an all-time peak of 543,234 on Twitch.
Starfield’s Exclusivity: What Microsoft and Todd Howard Said
Xbox Games Marketing VP Aaron Greenberg had earlier said in a tweet (see below) that Starfield was going to be a permanent exclusive and not a timed exclusive. Even Todd Howard, director at Bethesda Game Studios, is of the view that fewer platforms would make for a better product.
Howard voiced his thoughts in an interview with The Telegraph. He also said that with PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming, Starfield would reach more people on the planet.
Starfield on PS5: Imagining the Experience
Let’s dream on a bit about Starfield coming to PS5. Will the latest gaming console from Sony give a rewarding space adventure experience with Starfield? Let’s take a look at what could work for the game were it to be ported on PS5.
➡️ 4K Gaming
There is a lot of visual variety in Starfield’s space, in terms of the environment and planets. Some planets are arid, some have a naturally hot environment, while there are those that feature dense vegetation. The structures built by humans are advanced-looking and futuristically designed, with meticulous attention to detail. Each object in the game, ranging from a beer bottle to a rescue axe, has been carefully detailed. All this variety and depth will be much appreciated in 4K resolution as the PS5 supports native 4K.
➡️ The DualSense Controller
With the DualSense Controller, the haptic feedback you get when you blow up a spaceship would feel a worthy experience of a space dogfight. If the PS5 version allows us to swap key bindings, then we could have shortcut keys to choose an action without having to go to the game menu again and again just for a weapon change. The game could be played in a better flow.
What We Think
Some would argue that Starfield was revealed way before Microsoft added Bethesda to its kitty and shouldn’t be excluded from PlayStation now. However, Microsoft has been bullish on strengthening the Xbox market and trying to boost the sales of its consoles. It claims that Sony had been meaning to make Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo PlayStation exclusives, and Starfield could have been next had they not swooped in first.
There is another huge acquisition Microsoft is hungering for, that of Activision Blizzard, the game studio well known for Call of Duty and World of Warcraft titles, not to mention the tens of other studios it has made Xbox subsidiaries.
If you want a direct answer, then no, Starfield is not going to launch on PS5, or for that matter, PS4. It is not even a possibility a few years from now.
In the console market, Sony’s consoles keep outselling Xbox. There, the Japanese tech giant still has an edge over its arch-rival. But the way Microsoft has begun gobbling up famous game studios needs to be tackled by Sony if they want to stay number 1 in the future.
While Starfield being ported to PS5 is a slim possibility, there’s a higher chance of players getting a Starfield multiplayer experience. Make sure you check out our post on it for more clarity!
