Phil Spencer wants Starfield to be a 12-year hit, just like Skyrim

gamesradar.com:

Whether you've been playing it for 200 hours or decided it was boring after 200 minutes, Starfield is nonetheless one of the most important video game releases this year. Since it's Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda's first new IP in decades, the intergalactic role-playing game was born wearing giant shoes to fill and debuted to ecstatic, unquenchable fanfare. 

Those expectations might intimidate some game studios, but Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer wouldn't have it any other way. Speaking at the 2023 Comic Con Experience in São Paulo on December 2, Spencer said he was confident Starfield could match Skyrim's longevity.

After being asked if he envisions players obsessing over Starfield even 12 years after its release, like Skyrim, Spencer said "That's [Microsoft's] goal."

"Skyrim is such an amazing hit from Bethesda Game Studios, and talking to [director] Todd Howard and the team — really, what they wanted to do [with Starfield] is [to give] people who love space and space exploration [...] that same opportunity," Spencer said. "So, we've already announced that we've got our next expansion coming, Shattered Space. We've already told the community that they'll get all the mod tools, so they can go and create their own content in Starfield, which has been so important to Skyrim."

"So, a ton of confidence that, for many, many years, Starfield will be [the] same, very high in the gameplay," he continued.

That's Spencer's hope, but Starfield's reality is more muddled. 

At CCXP, Spencer mentioned that the spacefarer RPG, released in September, has earned more than 12 million players and is currently part of Microsoft's top 10 most popular games. But, despite astronomical sales, Starfield has already dipped 30 spots below