Starfield on Xbox Game Pass could make it Bethesda's 'most played' game ever

techradar.com:

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said he expects Bethesda’s much-anticipated upcoming RPG Starfield to become one of Microsoft’s most-played games ever, and suggested Xbox Game Pass is the key to making the game more popular than Skyrim.

Speaking to Stephen Totilo of Axios, Spencer noted the popularity of recent Microsoft exclusives, with Halo Infinite reaching 20 million players and Forza Horizon 5 hitting 18 million since they launched. 

He suggested the popularity of the games has rested on their greater accessibility, highlighting that Game Pass has let Microsoft place many releases in the hands of players who would not have otherwise bought them.

«You can see it with Forza and Halo, the last releases,” Spencer said. “Those are the most played games in those franchises because we made them available on more screens than we ever have, through more business models than we've ever made them available”.

“I love the Forza 5 and Halo stats… I love how many people played Psychonauts 2 vs. Psychonauts 1.

»So, when I look at the teams, when Todd and I talk about Starfield, it's: 'How do we make sure this is the most-played Todd Howard game ever? [Todd Howard having worked as Skyrim's director].’"

Spencer went on to say he expects Game Pass and Microsoft’s broader strategies will also increase the player count of several major Activision Blizzard franchises after it acquires the publisher.

“I want more people to be playing WoW [World of Warcraft] in five years than are playing today.”

“I want more people to be playing Call of Duty in five years, more people to be playing Candy Crush in five years, because we've made it more accessible to more people.”

Surpassing Skyrim’s total player count is no small task. Since the acclaimed RPG was