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Phil Spencer Confident in Decision to Delay Starfield

Lunatic_Gamer

Lunatic_Gamer

Member
Starfield-Reveal-Site.jpg


Speaking to The Verge (and spotted by PC Gamer), Spencer said that releasing a game too early is a mistake the company has made before and, especially as Starfield is the first Bethesda game to be released as an Xbox exclusive, he wanted the developers to feel supported by their new publisher.

"We have experience shipping games too early," Spencer said. "But in hindsight, when you look at a game like Starfield - which has 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."
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He continued: "Starfield and Redfall, which are our first big Xbox games with [Bethesda owner] ZeniMax coming into the team, I just wanted to make sure those teams felt they had the support they could get from Xbox. Maybe feel some of the benefit of being part of a larger organization that has other revenue streams and other things going on that could be helpful."
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ign.com

Phil Spencer Confident In Decision to Delay Starfield - IGN

Starfield's original release date has come and gone but, despite fan disappointment, Xbox boss Phil Spencer is confident that delaying Bethesda's latest was the right move.
ign.com ign.com
 
Makoto-Yuki

Makoto-Yuki

Gold Member
Captain Toad said:
Hopefully, Phil is staying the hell out of his way.
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maybe to a certain extent.

he could be hands off but i just meant that with MS owning Bethesda now they'd maybe want to just be like "Nah, it ain't releasing like this. Spend more time working on it". Not being involved in game direction or anything.
 
chixdiggit

chixdiggit

Member
"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."

Nice. Wish this was the same attitude with all big publishers.
I can understand the small dev teams that release stuff half done or in Early Access but really no excuse for the "big guys"
 
Umbasaborne

Umbasaborne

Banned
Wandering Leopard said:
I wonder when it's actually coming out, I would be a little surprised if it misses summer.
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I think it will come out in June, but theres always the chance it is delayed again to the fall. phil confirmed that redfall will launch before starfield, so either redfall launches this spring and starfield this summer, or redfall in the summer and starfield in fall, while forza acts as Microsoft's spring title.
 
G

Godot25

Banned
I wonder if Bethesda would be willing to delay Starfield if they did not end up bought by Microsoft.
 
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adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
He continued: "Starfield and Redfall, which are our first big Xbox games with [Bethesda owner] ZeniMax coming into the team, I just wanted to make sure those teams felt they had the support they could get from Xbox. Maybe feel some of the benefit of being part of a larger organization that has other revenue streams and other things going on that could be helpful."
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It's good that they didn't make Bethesda push those games out in compromised state to meet arbitrary deadlines.
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
Umbasaborne said:
Cant get over how short sighted of them it was to date that thing in 2021.
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that's every game tho. name me a AAA title in recent history that wasn't delayed.

I think the only ones will be Capcom titles as they seem to only announce games really far into development atm.
 
R

RIPN2022

Member
Crazy the game would be out now. Wonder if it will be any good when it launches or if it will get a Fallout 4-like reception.
 
Saber

Saber

Member
I don't think its hard to believe a delay is needed judging the release of certain unpolished games nowadays.
But lets be honest, Bethesda is globaly know for its bugs and I don't think this will change soon, no matter the amount of copium people throw. If the game do released polished then good for them.
 
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Heisenberg007

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Humdinger said:
Dude, this is Bugthesda we're talking about. The chance that it will come out bug-free is about 0.002%.
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Bethesda's past record is part of the reason why I'm not very confident. But I'd love if it defies these expectations and has a launch similar to God of War Ragnarok (extremely well-optimized, 30 FPS / 60 FPS / 120 FPS modes, VRR support, pretty much bug free, etc.)
 
M

mortal

Banned
I think it was the right move as well. I can't imagine the shit storm had the game launched broken and full of bugs after so much hype. It probably would've been a Cyberpunk 2077 situation all over again.
Although there's so much expectation and pressure riding on Starfield, I can't imagine it living up to some people's expectations.

I really hope Microsoft knocks it out of the park with their 1st party titles in 2023. Would genuinely love to see them give Sony some real competition with their offerings.
 
Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Heisenberg007 said:
The delay is worth it and totally welcome if the game comes out bug-free, of 10/10 quality, and with all the next-gen features at launch (60 FPS mode / unlocked FPS VRR modes / Ray-tracing, etc.). All the more power to them.

Though I have my doubts that it'll launch in perfect condition despite the delay.

Fingers crossed! 🤞
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I think you should just try the game out and see if it's fun; maybe even see if you can enjoy playing it for what it is.

Maybe you're not, but it honestly feels like you're just trying to set up ridiculously high standards so that no matter what, you can call this game a failure when it releases. There's virtually zero chance the game launches bug free. I don't expect ray tracing either. I don't expect "10/10 quality" either, whatever that means. The game will probably land in the low 90s or upper 80s for a metacritic average.

Bethesda has never been known as some powerhouse of technical skill and polish. What I'm hoping for is a good story, good writing, and a fun gameplay loop. The gameplay is probably not going to be the focus with a astronaut exploration game; it will be the story, hopefully.
 
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Heisenberg007

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Punished Miku said:
I think you should just try the game out and see if it's fun; maybe even see if you can enjoy playing it for what it is.

Maybe you're not, but it honestly feels like you're just trying to set up ridiculously high standards so that no matter what, you can call this game a failure when it releases. There's virtually zero chance the game launches bug free. I don't expect ray tracing either. I don't expect "10/10 quality" either, whatever that means. The game will probably land in the low 90s or upper 80s for a metacritic average.

Bethesda has never been known as some powerhouse of technical skill and polish. What I'm hoping for is a good story, good writing, and a fun gameplay loop. The gameplay is probably not going to be the focus with a astronaut exploration game; it will be the story, hopefully.
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Not at all.

Skyrim was pretty great and scored dozens of 10/10s. It's still sitting at 94 MC. So unless we expect a significant drop in Bethesda's quality, we should at least expect the same -- if not an improvement that's gained with experience and tech improvements.

And Starfield is expected to have RTX ray-tracing, so it's not unrealistic to expect at least one RT mode on Series X (even if it is the 30 FPS mode) and then have a non-RT 60 FPS mode (which has been the norm for most big developers this generation so far).
 
Humdinger

Humdinger

Gold Member
Heisenberg007 said:
Bethesda's past record is part of the reason why I'm not very confident. But I'd love if it defies these expectations and has a launch similar to God of War Ragnarok (extremely well-optimized, 30 FPS / 60 FPS / 120 FPS modes, VRR support, pretty much bug free, etc.)
Click to expand...

I would, too, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. I've been playing Bethesda games for 20 years, and they never come out extremely polished, bug-free, and perfectly optimized. That's just not their style.
 
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