Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer has reacted to the delays of both Starfield and Redfall, which were scheduled to be two of the biggest Xbox exclusives of the year.
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 10: Phil Spencer, vice president of Microsoft Game Studios at Microsoft Corp. speaks during Microsoft Xbox news conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo at the Galen Center on June 10, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Thousands are expected to attend the annual three-day convention to see the latest games and announcements from the gaming industry.
Taking to Twitter, Spencer acknowledged the potential disappointment fans had over Bethesda's news. But he did also mention that he expresses his full support for the development teams working on the two games, all in the name of quality, writes IGN. Here is his official tweet:
Bethesda announced the delays for Starfield and Redfall out of nowhere, especially since the original releases for the two games were closing in. The four-player co-op vampire shooter was slated for a Summer 2022 launch, while Starfield had an exact release date: November 11th. Now, the two games are scheduled for an early 2023 release.
Despite the announcement of the delays, however, Bethesda did promise gamers that there will be deep-dive gameplay trailers for Starfield and Redfall soon. They didn't mention when these trailers/gameplay showcases are coming out, but there's a possibility it would be at the Xbox & Bethesda Summer Showcase, which is scheduled for June 12th.
The Summer Showcase was announced last April (via Xbox Wire) and will be focusing on the upcoming games releasing on Xbox consoles, PC, and Xbox Game Pass. It wasn't made clear whether other Xbox first-party studios will join in, but Bethesda is the obvious mainline attraction for the stream that will be broadcast on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.
Starfield and Redfall getting delayed could mean a lot of things. As per the original announcement, the reason is to let the teams at Bethesda and Arkane Austin deliver the "best most polished versions" of the two games. And since the delay is only until early 2023, it is possible that the two games have already been completed - most of the work now will likely focus on minimizing bugs.
Read also: Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase Scheduled for June 12: Here's What to Expect
Starfield And Redfall Join List Of Biggest 2022 Game Delays
2022 was supposed to be a landmark year for games, especially Xbox. But Starfield and Redfall are just two new additions to an already-growing list of titles that were supposed to come out this year, but were delayed to at least next year.
Perhaps the biggest is Nintendo's highly anticipated sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This game still doesn't even have an official title yet, but Nintendo did announce it will slip into a Spring 2023 release, as reported by GameInformer.
According to the development team, they need more time "to make it as special as Nintendo wants it to be." They're also probably feeling the pressure of living up to the absolute masterpiece that was the original Breath of the Wild, so some extra development time would come in handy.
Another big game that slipped into next year is Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The delay was announced by the studio on Twitter, citing the same reason: more time for polishing the game as a whole:
Looks like Xbox will be two aces short up its sleeve as the year of big game releases goes on.
Related: The Day Before Zombie MMO Delayed To Next Year, But Will Move To Unreal Engine 5
Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce