Following Starfield’s already impressive success, it seems unrealistic to imagine that any other Bethesda Game Studios titles wouldn’t be exclusive to Xbox, but that might just be the case with Elder Scrolls 6. The long-awaited sequel to 2011’s TES V: Skyrim is reportedly on the fence in terms of exclusivity, if Phil Spencer is to be believed.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Phil ‘P3’ Spencer, the Head of Xbox, was grilled on the upcoming fantasy RPG epic that entered development just weeks ago. It isn’t expected to be on the scene for another five or six years, but people are already wondering whether Elder Scrolls 6 will be exclusive to Xbox and PC platforms.
‘Case-by-Case Basis’
In the chat with Bloomberg’s technology team, Phil Spencer stated clearly that games are addressed on a case-by-case basis, even in light of the acquisitions that have been made or are being made by Microsoft and Xbox. He said:
We want to make sure our games are available in so many different places — we’re looking at millions and millions of players who will have access to Starfield and other Xbox Game Studios games. It’s really about giving players choice around how they want to play and how they build their library of games.
Recently, Starfield’s overwhelming success prompted Bethesda’s Todd Howard to express his delight, stating that making Starfield an exclusive product on Xbox platforms resulted in the ‘creation of a better product’.
Ultimately, there’s no real way of knowing what the gaming sphere will look like in five or six years. We’ll have had new deals settled, new hardware released, and all manner of new services cropping up and falling back down again. There’s every opportunity for Microsoft and Bethesda Game Studios to publish Elder Scrolls 6 on PlayStation platforms – just as there is every opportunity for whatever comes next in the Fallout series to be released on PlayStation (6, 7?).
Starfield might be a standout exception to that concept because it’s an entirely new IP, but many have argued that something that has been multi-platform for years should remain multi-platform.
Do you think Elder Scrolls 6 should be a multi-platform title?
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