Microsoft seems to be on a shopping spree for studios, seemingly looking out for potential acquisition deals left, right, and center. The giant seems to have great future plans for Xbox, all converging under its central Game Pass service which gets better with every acquisition and exclusivity deal.
With E3 2021 confirmed to be an online event and Microsoft confirming to be a presenter this year, fans are already busy speculating what might be in store for this year. While nothing can be said definitively for now, it's clear that Starfield could be the biggest play that the giant, alongside Bethesda, might do this year.
Starfield Will Probably The Star Of The Show
While the 23-subsidiary Xbox Game Studios has quite a lot going on, it seems that Microsoft might not have a lot to show this year. Halo Infinite will probably be a part of the show, as it gears up for its fall release. However, Microsoft's other big projects such as Everwild, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, and Perfect Dark among many others are still some ways off, and won't probably grace the stage this E3.
Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media is probably the biggest elephant in the room, and there's not a better stage to flex that new relationship. Heavy hitters such as The Elder Scrolls 6 are still some ways off, though, so it seems that Starfield is probably due for a gameplay reveal this year following last year's leaked screenshots. Xbox fans are already excited about what's in store for the future, and it seems that E3 2021 could be the perfect time to strike.
Will Starfield Be an Xbox Exclusive?
In addition to fans receiving Starfield gameplay and possibly even a release date, there's a decent chance that Microsoft may clear the air regarding future Bethesda exclusivity. There have been a lot of speculation on the matter, and it seems that the announced solution here is to evaluate each game on a case-by-case basis. Starfield being a primarily single-player experience would drive quite the sales for the platform, and could even be a worthy addition to the Xbox first-party offerings which warrants an exclusive release for the platform.
However, Starfield has been in development for quite some time and was probably initially planned to be a multi-platform release Depending on how far the PlayStation version was in development, it might even be better off to complete the game instead of going for an Xbox timed-exclusivity deal, such as Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo. Nonetheless, Microsoft wouldn't have spent so much on Bethesda to not get big names for its titles, making Starfield the first real title it can do that with, at E3 and on the Xbox Series X.
Starfield is in development.