Bethesda has a good reason for making Starfield exclusive to the Xbox

Starfield's Xbox exclusivity is a testament to the evolving relationship between Bethesda and Microsoft, post-acquisition as well. Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, spoke about Bethesda's growth and maturation over the years. Bethesda has built a reputation after creating iconic franchises like Fallout, Skyrim, and Elder Scrolls. However, Spencer acknowledged that when Microsoft took over, Starfield was slated for a much earlier release.

After discussions with Bethesda's leadership, it was decided to extend the timeline to allow the team more time to perfect the game.

History is full of exclusive titles that come out with relatively few performance issues, so Hines' statement plenty of sense. We don't need to look further for examples than this year's GOTY frontrunners, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Final Fantasy 16.

Of course, we can't bring both up without talking about the elephant in the room - Redfall. The Xbox Series S/X-exclusive title fell flat on its face at launch, disappointing Phil Spencer and prompting talks of a potential closure of its developers. Although it's currently being supported, the writing is on the proverbial wall for Arkane Austin.

While the consensus agrees that Starfield's Xbox exclusivity is smart, the game isn't out of the woods yet. Its ambitious size and scope - referred to by Hines as an "irresponsibly large game" - might be more manageable but it's not in the hands of gamers yet. The ultimate litmus test will have to wait until September when critics and audiences have had a chance to take Starfield out for a spin to find out if the platform exclusivity and decision to cap the FPS are both good for the game or if it's just Bethesda trying its best to justify what could potentially be a disastrous decision.