Ah, Starfield. Bethesda's brand-new IP has been described as a "space epic" by the developer, and now that the company is about to belong to Xbox, we're even more intrigued about what to expect from the game.

For the most part, Bethesda has remained very quiet on the progress of Starfield since it unleashed an announcement trailer on us back in June of 2018, but here's what we know about the project so far...

What Is Starfield?

Bethesda Game Studios has described Starfield as a new "space epic" that marks the first brand-new franchise in twenty-five years from the developer, and you can see a first glimpse of it in the trailer above.

The game is reportedly getting a "major engine rewrite" according to Bethesda's Todd Howard, which marks the largest of its kind since the company released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion all the way back in 2006.

"These new systems are optimized for the vast worlds we love to create, with generational leaps not just in graphics, but CPU and data streaming as well. It’s led to our largest engine overhaul since Oblivion, with all new technologies powering our first new IP in 25 years, Starfield, as well as The Elder Scrolls VI."

Have We Seen Any Starfield Gameplay Yet?

Possibly...? Back in September of 2020, a few images were uploaded to the internet reportedly showing some work-in-progress gameplay footage of Starfield, although Bethesda hasn't commented on them.

https://twitter.com/IdleSloth84/status/1309974199377833992

They appear to suggest Starfield will be a third-person game, at least partly, but ultimately things could change from now until release, and we don't even know if these are the real deal in any case!

What Is Starfield's Xbox Release Date?

Long story short, there isn't one yet! Bethesda notoriously remains quiet on release dates until the last minute in many cases, so this could be a situation where it gets announced and released in the same year.

Bethesda has acknowledged in the past that Starfield has been in development since the release of Fallout 4 all the way back in 2015, so hopefully we won't be waiting too long until it arrives on our consoles.

Here's what Bethesda's Todd Howard had to say to The Guardian back in 2018:

“We’ve been talking about it for a decade, we started putting things on paper five, six years ago, and active development was from when we finished Fallout 4, so two and a half, three years.” When it comes to both The Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield, everyone should be very patient. It’s gonna take a while for what we have in mind to come out.”

What Else Has Bethesda Said About The Game?

Starfield Xbox Series X 2

In an interview with Eurogamer in 2018, Todd Howard confirmed that Starfield was targeting next-generation consoles primarily, but that it might also come out for last-gen systems as well.

He also went on to talk a little more about how the game will feel, and whether it will have a lot in common with other Bethesda Game Studios properties such as the Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises.

"I don't want to say yes or no to that because I don't know what that means to you or whoever's going to read that. It's different, but if you sit down and play it you would recognise it as something we made if that makes sense? It has our DNA in it. It has things that we like."

"But it has a lot of new systems we've been thinking about for a while that fit that kind of game really well. We'll talk about it in the future. See now I wish I hadn't announced it!"

Will Starfield Be On Xbox Game Pass?

Given that ZeniMax Media (Bethesda's parent company) is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, it's almost certain that Starfield will make its way onto Xbox Game Pass on day one.

Microsoft has made it clear that it intends to make all future first-party titles available on the subscription service from the moment they launch, so you shouldn't have to pay anything extra to play Starfield when it arrives!

Are you looking forward to the release of Starfield for Xbox? Let us know down below.

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