The New Bethesda Epic Has Been Hit With A Crushing Delay
Gaming giant Bethesda just announced a huge delayed to their most anticipated releases and we are left wondering just what is going on.
A few days ago, we dropped a sarcastic joke about video gaming delays happening en masse, and we have to say the following: It was only a joke, not an instruction manual! And there’s a reason behind our statement; Bethesda decided to postpone two of its highly anticipated Xbox exclusive titles to the first half of 2023 without offering any specific reasons other than the usual statement about final tweaks and polishing.
According to Polygon, Bethesda announced the delays of Starfield, its highly anticipated sci-fi RPG, and Redfall, a vampire-themed shooter developed by Arkane Studios. Both games were expected to launch later this year, but Bethesda’s morning announcement declared that the games are now scheduled to release in the first half of 2023. The Microsoft-owned publisher hasn’t offered any specific reason for the delay, apart from saying that the company wants to ensure players receive the best, most polished versions of the game — a statement that seems all-too-often associated with gaming delays currently plaguing the industry.
This doesn’t actually surprise experienced gamers since Bethesda hasn’t offered any kind of gameplay showcase for both gaming titles. However, the company promised to take the players into a deep dive on both games soon, indicating that the titles might still appear at the upcoming Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase scheduled on June 12 — unless they decided to delay the event as well. Nonetheless, given the recent announcement, both games might still appear, but gamers and fans should hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Bethesda’s Starfield, an epic sci-fi RPG developed by the same team that worked on the Elder Scrolls series, was meant to be the first major release from Bethesda Game Studio’s core team since the release of 2015’s Fallout 4 and the first new intellectual property from the same studio in the last 25 years. That’s a quarter of a century — a pretty much older than some gamers. The game was supposed to release on November 11, which is an important date for Bethesda, considering that Elder Scrolls was released on the same date in 2011.
We already reported on the game being an Xbox exclusive, and Bethesda showcased a number of details surrounding the narrative and gameplay of the game, including the factions, companions, and soundtrack, but the audience still hasn’t seen any gameplay footage. The same could be said for Redfall, but Arkane Studios’ shooter was even quieter since its announcement, which scheduled the game for a summer 2022 release window. However, there wasn’t a single piece of news regarding the game since, apart from this morning’s announcement regarding its postponement.
Admittedly, both games have a great pedigree and are of utmost importance to Microsoft, as they’re bound to be the first Game Pass exclusives since the tech giant’s acquisition of Bethesda in March 2021. Since the acquisition, Bethesda has released several gaming titles, but those launched on PlayStation first due to preexisting agreements with Sony. Starfield and Redfall are now scheduled to release as Xbox exclusives, though they also launch on PC and Xbox Game Pass from day one.
