Microsoft projected incredibly gigantic sales figures for PlayStation 5, and it’s safe to say that this year’s Starfield will be an enormous success for Xbox. Following Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, Bethesda’s parent company, it is evident that Starfield will no longer be released on PlayStation 5.
However, there was a time when Starfield was almost a PS5 exclusive until Microsoft put large amounts of cash on the table. Microsoft has been on an enormous spending spree in recent years, acquiring ZeniMax Media and attempting to purchase Activision Blizzard for a staggering $68.7 billion.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, the acquisition of Activision Blizzard has not been a simple process. Despite being approved by the majority of market regulators across the globe, the CMA in the United Kingdom and the FTC in the United States have opposed it.
Microsoft was recently embroiled in a legal dispute with the FTC over its attempts to prevent the Activision Blizzard merger, but the company recently prevailed in court. Now, only the United Kingdom stands in Microsoft’s path.
During the FTC court battle, a variety of intriguing details emerged, including Sony’s original intention to make Starfield a PS5 exclusive as well as its plans to release a PS5 Pro and PS5 Slim.
Microsoft’s projected sales of Bethesda’s Starfield and a forthcoming Indiana Jones game (which is being developed by Wolfenstein studio MachineGames), if they were to release on PS5, is another piece of information to emerge from the court case.
Microsoft predicted in a tweet shared by video game journalist Stephen Totilo that the Indiana Jones game and Starfield would have sold ten million PlayStation 5 units.
Microsoft had faith that it would be able to make up the shortfall through the sales of Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and Xbox Series X/S consoles. There is not yet a gameplay trailer available for the Indiana Jones video game, let alone a release date for the game.
As for Starfield, its launch date is set for September 6th, 2023, and it will be available on the Xbox Series X/S and PC. If you preorder the Premium or Constellation Edition, the release date will be September 1. Starfield will also be made available on Xbox Game Pass.
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