Starfield Is A Better Game Because It's Exclusive To Xbox And Not On PlayStation, Todd Howard Says

Bethesda's big new game, Starfield, is exclusive on console to Xbox because Microsoft owns the studio and parent company ZeniMax. The fact that Starfield is exclusive on console to Xbox is good, director Todd Howard said in an interview, because it allowed the team to "focus" and make a better game.

"When you're making something exclusive then the more you can focus," he told the BBC. "You know this is the hardware or the thing people are playing on, so the ability to focus on that always yields a better product. You do want people to be able to access it of course. But being with Xbox means there is an ease of access for us."

Howard went on to say that Starfield is expected to be Bethesda's biggest launch ever thanks in part to Game Pass. All 25 million+ Game Pass subscribers can play the game as part of their membership.

What's more, Howard said Starfield stands to benefit from being closely associated with Xbox, similar to Zelda and Switch. "I do also think people attach brands to certain games. When you think of Zelda you think of the Switch and I think there are times when that can be a real benefit," he said.

Starfield being exclusive to Xbox wasn't always the plan. According to Microsoft, Sony wanted to make Starfield a PlayStation exclusive, which prompted Microsoft's bid to buy ZeniMax for billions of dollars.

Starfield is officially available now for everyone, and the game is even playable on an Xbox One from 2013 through cloud streaming. Now that the game is in the wild, players are making major discoveries, like how having sex every day is a good way to level up and how to print infinite money. It's also been discovered that Starfield has really good potato physics.