With Starfield delayed, 2022 is the ultimate test for Xbox
This was supposed to be an important year for Xbox. And it still is, just not in the way Microsoft was hoping.
Hot off the successful launches of Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite, Microsoft was set to flex its newfound (i.e., newly bought) muscles in 2022. We were finally going to see how much its expensive Bethesda acquisition would pay off for the company as it broadened its arsenal of exclusives. With Zelda delayed, Starfield would be the biggest game of the holiday season — and it would also launch on Xbox Game Pass on day one.
But you know what they say about making God (or Todd, in this case) laugh. Microsoft’s carefully laid plans dissolved this morning as Bethesda delayed both Starfield and its other big 2022 Xbox exclusive, Redfall, into 2023. While we’re likely to get some new reveals at Microsoft’s big not-E3 showcase in a month, Xbox could go the entire year without launching a single big-budget exclusive.
As a result, 2022 is now the ultimate test of Microsoft’s grand Xbox experiment. It’ll definitively prove if Game Pass is a strong enough value on its own that Microsoft no longer needs to lean on pricey first-party games to sell consoles.
The Xbox Series X/S’ short life cycle has never really mirrored that of a traditional console. When the devices launched in November 2020, there was no big console-moving exclusive to entice players. While PS5 owners would get Demon’s Souls, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and more on day one, those who picked up an Xbox Series console just got a next-gen upgrade for Gears Tactics and a multiplayer-enabled rerelease of Tetris Effect. Halo Infinite was famously supposed to be a launch title for the new wave of Xboxes, but the game was delayed a full
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