Starfield Going to PlayStation Is a Win for Ending Exclusivity, But Bethesda Should Hold Off for Now

In the last couple of years, we’ve seen Microsoft moving away from exclusive titles and committing to a a multi-platform launch strategy. However, many thought that Microsoft would still retain some Xbox exclusives, such as Halo and Starfield.

However, that’s not the case. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has suggested that Bethesda’s Starfield might be released on PlayStation 5 down the line. While that might be exciting news, the space sci-fi is still not ready to be ported to other consoles.

Starfield still needs some serious fixing before PS5 port

There’s no denying the fact that the idea of Starfield being available to experience on PlayStation sounds incredible. It’s going to attract tons of players and bring even more money to Microsoft. However, when you take a look at the current state of the Bethesda title, you’ll instantly realize that the port will harm the game and weaken the Xbox brand.

When one talks about Bethesda games, there’s one thing that instantly comes to mind: bugs. Thanks to Bethesda still using the cranky-old Creation Engine, all of its games are plagued with glitches and bugs. Seriously, players couldn’t go more than 30 seconds at Skyrim’s release without being launched into the stratosphere.

You’d think that Bethesda would’ve fixed the bugs in Starfield and brought a smooth release. However, that’s not the case, as the game is still dealing with glitches and bugs despite Todd Howard and his team constantly bringing patches and updates.

That’s not the only issue with Starfield right now; the title still feels lifeless due to clunky UI, pointless exploration, and the worst, loading screens. There’s absolutely no immersion when it comes to space travel, and combat feels like it has been ported right out of previous Bethesda games without innovation.

At the game’s release, Bethesda promised a vast universe that would transform the RPG industry. However, the game still has a long way to go. Starfield desperately needs Bethesda’s full attention to fix its issues. Microsoft diverting resources to make a PlayStation version would take attention away from current problems and delay what gamers have been asking for.

Ex-Starfield developer opens up on loading screens

As we’ve said before, Starfield has tons of issues, but nothing comes close to the nightmare of loading screens. Frequent loading screens end up breaking the immersion aspect of the game. However, they weren’t a big issue while developing the game.

In an interview with VideoGamer, former Starfield developer Nate Purkeypile, who was involved with the project until 2021, stated that the game had fewer loading screens during his time at Bethesda. The most visible locations where it’s an issue were in the game’s cities, like Neon, where Purkeypile has worked.

According to the developer, the game could’ve worked out without the addition of these annoying loading screens.

could have existed without those [loading zones]. Like, some of those were not there when I had been working on it and so it was a surprise to me that there were as many as there were.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to tell us why Todd Howard added these loading screens to the final build of the game, but his comments suggest it’s all about performance.

Purkeypile explained that the heavy segmentation of areas is all because of the Creation Engine and its gating areas to improve performance. We only hope that the upcoming Elder Scrolls 6 doesn’t have as many loading screens as Starfield.

With that said, do you think Starfield deserves a PS5 port? Let us know in the comments below.