Ahead of the early access launch of Starfield on Xbox, PC and Game Pass, the game's director Todd Howard has issued an internal memo - thanking the teams at Bethesda, ZeniMax, Xbox and Microsoft for their contributions.
While it is mostly just Todd thanking a bunch of people and reflecting on the lengthy project, one highlight, in particular, is his praise of Phil Spencer and Xbox - noting how they give creators the chance to "flourish". Here's exactly what he had to say, courtesy of Windows Central:
Todd Howard: "And of course, there is Phil Spencer. His support of every game and every player has been unwavering and fierce. Joining Xbox brought us closer to so many we had worked with for over 20 years. I cannot imagine a better place to create games, where the diversity of studios, creators, and games are allowed to flourish. This support came from the entire Xbox leadership team and all areas of publishing and dev support."
Long before Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda, Xbox was working with Todd Howard and his team on console versions of games like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for the original Xbox.
This isn't the first time Todd has praised Xbox's support on Starfield, either. Back in July of this year, he also mentioned how "incredible" Phil, Matt Booty and the rest of the team had been:
"Obviously we worked with them for a long time, going back 20 years with Morrowind... But being a part of Xbox and their support, it really has allowed us to be this ambitious and take these risks...and fingers crossed."
According to previous comments made by Todd and Phil, every one of Xbox's QA staff has been playing Starfield in the lead-up to its release - to help identify any bugs and improve the overall quality of the experience. Bethesda has even called on some of its other teams to provide assistance on Starfield.