Starfield release delayed until September, showcase scheduled for June

Starfield’s release date has been delayed into the second half of the year.

In an announcement video published on Wednesday, Bethesda confirmed that the game, which was initially planned to release in the first half of this year, will now arrive on September 6.

The publisher also confirmed that a Starfield Direct live stream will take place on Sunday, June 11.

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Bethesda owner Microsoft also confirmed that the Xbox Game Showcase will take place on Sunday, June 11, prior to the Starfield show. This would place it on the weekend between Summer Game Fest and E3 2023.

“From myself and everybody here at Bethesda, we are so excited to finally tell you when Starfield is coming out this year,” said Todd Howard as part of an announcement video.

“We have poured ourselves into this game and even I’m surprised how much we can pour, it is large.”

Howard also referenced the Starfield Direct, which is scheduled to take place in June, during what is traditionally thought of as E3 week.

“But also this June we’re going to bring you into the studio, and give you a deep dive into the game at our Starfield Direct. There’s so much that we still have to show you.”

Starfield was originally scheduled to release on November 11, 2022. However, in May of 2022, the game was delayed into the first half 2023.

Howard presented the first Starfield gameplay in a 15-minute reveal at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase last June, shortly after the title received its first delay.

Speaking with the Lex Fridman podcast later in the year, he claimed the decision to delay Starfield was a tough one “but it was the right thing to do”, and that Bethesda was working with “the top engineers at Xbox” to make the game sing on consoles.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda means the studio’s future games won’t be released on PlayStation consoles. Howard noted in the interview that the studio already had a history of releasing Xbox-exclusive content dating back to 2002’s The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

“Keep in mind that for us that exclusivity is not unique, even though we’ve done PlayStation stuff and I think the PS5 is just an insane machine – they’ve done a great job and we’ve had great success on PlayStation,” he said.