Sorry Sony, I'm going to have to betray my beloved PlayStation 5 and buy my first ever Xbox. Why? Because Bethesda's Starfield gameplay demo has given me all kinds of feels and now I want to play it at release in 2023... except I can't as it's an Xbox and PC exclusive.
Having written about tech and videogames for many years – I don't get to play as much as I used to, new job pressures and all that life stuff – it feels a bit mad that I've never gone out and purchased an Xbox. Ever. I've never had any reason though: Halo was at my mates' houses; I wasn't that into the Gears series despite playing through a number for review purposes; Forza is at my brother's house as a quick dip in and out kind of game.
Starfield's gameplay trailer changes all of that for me. As a massive Bethesda fan, whose games I've loved over the years – Fallout 3 is still in my top five of all time; I also spent 70+ hours revisiting Skyrim in 2021 – I can see a title that looksfamiliar, but that introduces new settings and themes to the formula.
As you can see from the trailer below, Starfield is not a game I could fathom playing at someone else's place due to the perceived scale of it all; this looks like one massive game that I want to lose myself in, so here's hoping it can live up to the hype.
Starfield isn't coming to PS5: Xbox and PC exclusive
All the above intrigues me enough to want to start saving for an Xbox Series X. It seems that Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda – which was completed in 2021 for 7.5 billion dollars (that's $7,500,000,000 if you want to count those zeroes) – was savvy enough to make gamers like me open their minds... and their wallets.
I've been more allegiant when it comes to console purchases over the years than I'd perhaps realised. Staunchly 'a Sega guy' in my youth, I stuck with the Japanese giant right through to its last. That's right: I owned a Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast before I eventually made the switch to PlayStation. The delights of Nintendo aside (is it bad I see that as a side brand, much as I love my Switch OLED?), I've stuck with Sony ever since.
But Sony has always won for me where it's counted: with its best games. The PS5 launch trounced Microsoft's console for the first full year in terms of titles, delivering far better exclusives. Now the tides are changing, with the likes of Starfield in 2023 and the next Elder Scrolls title in the future (2025 anyone?) being Microsoft exclusives and, therefore, a huge lure to a gamer like me who, as I've gotten older, doesn't hold the same fanboy allegiance as I clearly once did. So sign me up Microsoft: the Xbox Series X may yet win my heart after all...
