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Phil Spencer Wants Starfield To Be Bethesda's Most Played Game Ever

Spencer shared his thoughts on the recent success of Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5.

47 Comments

Following the news that Halo Infinite has become the biggest Halo launch of all time, Microsoft's gaming boss Phil Spencer has shared his hopes for Bethesda's upcoming RPG, Starfield, saying that he wants to make it the most played game for the studio ever.

According to a new interview between Axios journalist Stephen Totilo and Spencer, the CEO commented on Microsoft's recent success with Halo Infinite--which has surpassed 20 million players--as well as Forza Horizon 5, which has hit the 18 million mark since its release.

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"I love the Forza 5 and Halo stats...I love how many people played Psychonauts 2 vs. Psychonauts 1," Spencer said. He also went on talk about his expectations for Starfield, which won't be on PlayStation but will be on Game Pass, saying, "Quality of the title is number one, no doubt about that."

"So, when I look at the teams, when [Bethesda Game Studios boss Todd Howard] and I talk about Starfield, it's: 'How do we make sure this is the most-played Todd Howard game ever?'"

Touching back on the Halo and Forza 5 releases, he said, "Those are the most played games in those franchises because we made them available on more screens than we ever have, through more business models than we’ve ever made them available.”

Additionally, following the announcement that Microsoft would be buying Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion, Spencer talked about wanting to reach more players, saying he believes in the "social impact of interactive entertainment."

"Yeah, I want more people to be playing WoW in five years that are playing today. I want more people to be playing Call of Duty in five years, more people to be playing Candy Crush in five years, because we've made it more accessible to more people.”

In other news, Halo Infinite's campaign co-op update, Forge, and seasonal roadmap have been delayed.

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zerojuice

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It won't be because it won't be on PlayStation consoles, Nintendo consoles, Alexa devices, or refrigerators.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@zerojuice: Aww! I had high hopes for that refrigerator in my office idea.

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solidsolo

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Edited By solidsolo

than don't make it woke

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blondie_82

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Kinda hard to do without PlayStation.

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Just1MoHr

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Wants ________ Most Played Game Ever....sounds like every developer that ever developed. Guess what else they want, to develop it with the lowest budget possible and then pay the least amount of taxes on it and then get the best ratings from reviewers.

I will be honest & say that Starfield already sounds fishy...but I would love to be proven wrong and I would give tremendous praise to it. I really hope it gets GOY.

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

Without PlayStation and with it launching on Game Pass? I'd be pretty surprised if Starfield breaks sales records.

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sladakrobot

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@mogan: There are way more mobile device users who play games than ps gamers out there.
Xbox+pc+smartphones+laptops using GP or Steam...even tvs with a browser could stream that game.
Its not an unrealistic claim there imo

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BeefoTheBold

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@sladakrobot:

I highly doubt that Starfield is the sort of game that people are going to be playing on their phones.

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sladakrobot

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@BeefoTheBold: The potential is there,the time will tell.
Also,why not think of a ps gamer playing this game on his pc or a mobile phone?
The entry barrier is low

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BeefoTheBold

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Edited By BeefoTheBold

@sladakrobot:

I can absolutely see Playstation players playing Starfield on PC if the game is good.

I simply cannot see phone hardware as being able to handle this game. If a mobile device can handle what SHOULD be a next gen AAA title then consider me extremely unimpressed by the ambition level of the title in question.

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sladakrobot

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@BeefoTheBold: I get ur point. Me thinks that this must be also a Xcloud game if they want to reach ppl with weaker hardware so everybody can stream it.

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keiser69

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@mogan: He didn't say sales. He said players.

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

@keiser69: So he did. In that case ... yeah, I can see it.

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zerojuice

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@mogan: Highly unlikely. Without hundreds of millions of PlayStation gamers and millions of Nintendo gamers; it'll never beat Skyrim.

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keiser69

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@zerojuice: 30 million for Skyrim. Thats sales. There are 25 million right now that dont have to buy it. Then if MS gets a TV app for Game Pass the addressable market reaches billions.

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sladakrobot

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@zerojuice:
I read that by 2021,Skyrim sold around 30 million copies across all plattforms.
Even if it was the best sold Bethesda game up to date,its only a little number compared to numbers of devices it was available at.
You also didnt took incount all the potential smartphone gamers out there who outnumbers ps+nintendo gamers combined.

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kathulos

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He can start by posting even a single screenshot of the gameplay.

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kutraz

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Edited By kutraz

How about delivering a quality game and then letting the gaming community decide? If the game is garbage, it will be judged harshly, just like CDPR with Cyberpunk and Bethesda with Fallout76...

You don't get a pass just because of previous success, you only get more attention.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@kutraz: Meh. Being garbage doesn't seem to matter anymore. Garbage sells all the time. The GTA Trilogy was universally reviled. Still sold like 10 million copies.

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

@kutraz: I don't know that Cyberpunk got judged too harshly. Sure, the internet turned on it after launch; but the hype of CDPR's next big game got Cyberpunk a whole mess of sales before that.

I think gamers give out passes whenever they're hyped for an upcoming game, because they're excited and want to believe it's awesome.

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kutraz

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@mogan: I get it but in order to be Bethesda's most played game ever, it needs to be a quality game. "Playing" implies people are enjoying it, so they are okay with the initial financial investment but also willing to put in their time to play it.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@kutraz: Bethesda games are a little unique in that sense, though. A lot of people buy the games because of mod potential, not because they think the games are all that great.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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I kind of wish Phil and Bethesda would stop talking about the game until they're ready to show some actual, substantial gameplay.

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sladakrobot

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@thecupidstunts: Will happen this summer

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@thecupidstunts: They have to. It's a new IP.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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@Barighm: Everyone is aware of Starfield by now. They could easily go radio silent, and release a nice chunk of shiny gameplay footage in July-ish, (ahead of the inevitable release date delay announcement).

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keiser69

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@thecupidstunts: Everyone who comes to Gamespot is aware, most people have no idea what Starfield is. But he wasn't actually talking about the game. In truth he was talking to the FTC and the Justice Department. We want our games everywhere and we want to lower the barrier to play them. He just used Starfield as an example because its big and it comes out relatively soon.

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CBTDesigner

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I personally am keeping my expectations a little low. The price point that Bethesda aims for, just like all the other titles, limits the amount of investment they're willing to make.

At least it's ORIGINAL!

I too am weary of "Final Fantasy XXXVI" type of titles.

I'd be willing to pay a premium for a worthwhile experience, that doesn't follow any mold.

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ghostspartan

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Edited By ghostspartan

cows go moo.

i have to say the way xbox seems to have corrected under phil is great. series x is wonderful and they acquired a ton of talent.

but now the actual first act of the show is about to start. halo and forza you have we knew that. flight simulator is also amazing. but what comes next? dont tell me it will be fable 6 and gears of war 6 sometime in 2024. and we learn half of the studios they have were working on xbox media center features and the other half were working on games that were cancelled because why release awoken when you have elder scrolls 6 in the pipeline for 2027 and so on.

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BeefoTheBold

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A few things that would help immensely.

1. Don't blatantly lie about the game constantly pre-launch like you did with Fallout 76

2. Don't brag about all the work you DIDN'T do by not having NPCs in the game like Fallout 76

3. Don't release it in, at best, a half finished state like Fallout 76

4. Don't release it in a two decade old engine that carries over all the bugs in each game from like, all the way back from the Morrowind era like Fallout 76

Basically...don't be Bethesda. Be better.

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Erico316

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Edited By Erico316

of course it will be because it free if he mean most played on Xbox but most ever won't happen without it going mult platform

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keiser69

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@erico316: With Game Pass removing the 60 or 70 dollar barrier on Xbox and PC ....more people will play this game. They just will.

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Erico316

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@keiser69: you do know elder scroll 5 sold 30 million by 2016 and was only on Xbox ,playstation, and PC at the time by now I believe those number have another 10 millions by now . gamepass only had 25 millions players it would require everyone on game pass to download the game and still wouldn't hit Skyrim numbers let be real not everyone on game pass play everything on game pass so u not gonna get the full game pass base to download one specify game ever.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@erico316: MS has proven they're willing to take the initial hit on the loss of the upfront sale in return for the future gains in competitive advantage.

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keiser69

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@erico316: But you are still going to have people who buy on both PC and Xbox plus people who might not like massive RPGs try it on Gamepass. Then what happens if this year they release an app for TVs where you dont need a console? It very much could be the most played Elder Scrolls even without Playstation

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Erico316

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@keiser69: again only about half of gamepass users will download the game . they won't be able to hit the number of Skyrim with it being on playstation. I don't think you understand how much playstation played a role in skyrim success . half of the sales of Skyrim came from playstation . star field is a new ips without the name of elder scroll then they cut the players base by half by making it an Xbox only game which mean it won't be possible to obtain those sales number anytime soon. I believe Skyrim is at over 50 million now .

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Hellknite190

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Edited By Hellknite190

Yeah, sure, Phil.

If you wanted that, maybe you wouldn't have told Bethesda to stop developing it for other platforms, yeah?

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Tony_Miami

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@Hellknite190: Those other platforms are welcome to it. They just have to be on board with allowing Game Pass to work on their systems.

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Hellknite190

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@tony_miami: That's not how game development works.

A game won't just 'work' on a switch because Nintendo decided they want to 'let game pass' onto it.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@Hellknite190: Actually, yeah, that IS how it works. It's called streaming.

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Hellknite190

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@Barighm: What on earth are you talking about?

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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"Quality of the title is number one, no doubt about that."

Bethesda? Quality? You've got your work cut out for you on that, Phil.

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MoogleStar

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Should be great, but no Xbox/PC for me. The next Mass Effect on PS5 will be good enough hopefully though.

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sladakrobot

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Well,just make it a good game and ppl will flock.
Also,ppl are getting tired of troublesome releases...avoid that.

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