New evidence reveals that a PS5 version of Starfield was planned at the hands of ZeniMax, something that changed with the acquisition by Microsoft.
During the FTC and Microsoft lawsuit With the purchase of Activision Blizzard, many interesting details about the video game industry are emerging. If the next generation with PS6 and the new Xbox points to 2028, they also start to emerge important information about games, as is the case with the exclusivity of Indiana Jones on Xbox. However, one of the most striking cases is that of Starfield, which will arrive next September exclusively for Microsoft consoles. However, the story could have been very different.
Through all the documents and data that have been presented in the FTC trial against Microsoft, it has been confirmed that a PS5 version of Starfield was planned initially by ZeniMax. A time when the relationship between the company and PlayStation was really close, signing the temporary exclusivities from Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo. Thus, Redfall and Starfield were also part of the talks between both companies, until the agreement with Microsoft arrived and everything turned 180 degrees.
Also, can’t recall if they’ve said this before, but the FTC believes Starfield was originally planned to also release on PS5 (seems logical given time it was in development) pic.twitter.com/Ce51btTs6j
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 22, 2023
Thus, Starfield will never come to PS5, but there was a time when it could be included in that string of titles with temporary exclusivity on the Sony console. Will have to see what happens from here on out with future Bethesda projects, since there are some cases that are being evaluated internally to try to get the most out of their releases.
The trial between the FTC and Microsoft will last for the next few days
During the next few days, interesting information regarding Microsoft and PlayStation will continue to emerge through the trial that is taking place between the FTC and Microsoft, since it will be postponed for several days. Nevertheless, next week there should be a resolution about it, so the purchase of Activision Blizzard seems closer and closer. With everything shown on day one, it looks like a lot more details of the industry’s future and past will come to light.
At the moment, all analysts predict that Microsoft’s defense will succeed and that Activision Blizzard will become part of the Xbox Game Studios team, although this will have to wait for the case to be resolved.