- Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer isn’t ruling out a potential Starfield PS5 release
- Spencer said he can’t “put a ring fence around any game and say this game will not go to a place where it would find players”
- The CEO wants Xbox to be a platform “that enables creators across any screen that people want to play on”
Bethesda hasn’t announced if its Xbox console-exclusive game Starfield will make the jump to PS5, but Microsoft gaming head Phil Spencer isn’t ruling out the idea.
Speaking on Save State Plus in a recent interview, Spencer was asked directly by host Destin Legarie if he could confirm whether the sci-fi role-playing game (RPG) will remain an Xbox exclusive forever, to which the CEO said, “No.”
“There’s no specific game… this kind of goes back to my red line answer. There’s no reason for me to put a ring fence around any game and say this game will not go to a place where it would find players, where it would have business success for us,” Spencer added.
“What we find is we’re able to drive a better business that allows us to invest in great game line-up, like you saw. And that’s our strategy. Our strategy is to allow our games to be available, Game Pass is an important component of playing the games on our platform. But to keep games off of other platforms, that’s not a path for us. It doesn’t work for us. What we’re doing now, we think really enables us to build the best platform for the world’s best games.”
Phil Spencer on Starfield exclusivityDestin: “Can you solidify that Starfield is staying put for the time being?”Spencer: “No.”Source: pic.twitter.com/r6sfx9e193January 25, 2025
Microsoft kicked off its multi-platform push last year, which saw Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, Pentiment, and Sea of Thieves make their way to PS5. We can also expect MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to be released on PS5 in Spring 2025, following its timed-exclusive launch on December 9 for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.
Spencer continued, saying, “the world’s biggest games are available in multiple places. And more and more creators are asking us, ‘how do we stay connected when our game might be playable in all these different places?’ And we want Xbox to be absolutely the platform that enables that.
“We think that makes us unique. Most of the other platforms out there are single platform on single device. Whether that’s PC, whether that’s mobile, whether it’s a console. And we want Xbox to be a platform that enables creators across any screen that people want to play on.”
Late last year, Spencer said there were no “red lines” regarding the release of more Xbox games on PlayStation but was unable to reveal any of the titles he had in mind.
“I think the ball is moving in the right direction. I think this idea of open platforms, where users have more choice, creators have more choice, you see the momentum, right?” he said at the time.
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