This our speculation rather than commentary on someone else's and it's a bit on the wild side.

During their inaugural Developer_Direct livestream, Microsoft revealed a new title Hi-Fi Rush which they released just a few hours later. Might Starfield also have a surprise release?

Putting aside the issue of monetization, Bethesda make great open world action roleplaying games which sell themselves.

Truly, no promotion necessary.

The day before that Developer_Direct, The Day Before multiplayer zombie apocalypse game delayed its launch to November 10.

That and fantasy action roleplaying game Hogwarts Legacy are the only more wishlisted Steam titles.

We remarked that in the event of Starfield's release being delayed again, November 11 is the date we'd expect them to choose because that was its original release date (in 2022) and the anniversary of their most popular previous game, Skyrim.

So this might have been a calculated competitive choice.

During The Game Awards in December Fromsoft's fantasy action roleplaying game Elden Ring won four awards and they revealed that their next game, sci-fi shooter Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon would release in 2023.

Elden Ring dominated sales for much of 2022.

Expectations of their next game are very high, plus they're probably also working on an expansion for Elden Ring which could release this year.

The moment Microsoft announce a release date for Starfield, competitors can begin planning.

Unless they don't.

Hi-Fi Rush didn't.

It's safe to assume that Microsoft intend to sell physical copies of Starfield and those take time to produce and distribute but they could theoretically announce an immediate digital release during the dedicated Starfield livestream they've told us they're working on.

To be followed by physical copies being made available in stores.

We're not getting our hopes up and don't think anyone else should either but it has immediate precedent and some potential for advantage.

Starfield is currently scheduled to release in the first half of this year on PC (Steam) and Xbox X|S.

[ Main Image: Starfield. Credit: Bethesda via Steam. ]

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