Bethesda delays Starfield until 2023

If you had your calendar marked for Starfield’s launch on November 11, 2022, you’ll have to readjust. Today (May 12), Microsoft-owned developer Bethesda took to Twitter to explain that its highly anticipated sci-fi RPG would now come out in the first half of 2023 instead. The company has delayed both Starfield and Redfall, a cooperative vampire first-person shooter, citing “incredible ambition” and a desire to deliver the games in a “polished” state.

The information comes from Bethesda’s official Twitter account. In a short — even terse — statement, a Bethesda representative laid out the situation:

“we’ve made the decision to delay the launches of Redfall and Starfield to the first half of 2023,” the statement reads. “The teams at Arkane Austin (Redfall) and Bethesda Game Studios (Starfield) have incredible ambitions for their games, and we want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them.”

The post goes on to thank fans for their support, and promises “deep dive[s] into the gameplay for both Redfall and Starfield soon.”

Starfield was supposed to come out in November 2022, while Redfall was slated for September 2022. That means that the former game could be up to seven months late, while the latter could be up to 10 months late.

Starfield has generated a lot of buzz, not only as a game in its own right, but also as an Xbox exclusive. At present, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S don’t have a ton of exclusive titles lined up for 2022. While last year brought us Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite and the console version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, this year has been a lot quieter so far. It’s not clear whether Microsoft will announce another big title for late 2022, or whether it will simply focus on multiplatform games and indies.

Starfield may also be something of a test case for the utility of Xbox Game Pass. Like other Microsoft-exclusive titles, the game will launch on Microsoft’s subscription service as soon as it comes out. And, like many other Microsoft-exclusive titles, players will be able to play the game on Xbox Series X/S and PC natively, or on Android, iOS, web browser or Xbox One via streaming. It’s a novel way to maintain exclusivity while still offering a game to the broadest possible audience.

If you’ve been hunting down an Xbox Series X restock to play Starfield, at least now you’ll have a lot more time to do so.