If both games are finished, I believe that Wolfenstein III would be far more important to get out than Starfield. First, it’s going to be cross-gen and second, most likely, multi-platform so get it out there and wrap it up so Machine Games can go into full production with Indiana Jones. I do believe that Wolfenstein III releases in September because with Battlefield 6, COD 2021 and Halo Infinite in October/November, it wouldn’t stand a chance.
Starfield is current gen only so releasing it in March 2022 kicks off the end of cross-gen for Microsoft plus I believe that Sony releases Horizon 2 in February/March while Nintendo releases BOTW 2 alongside the Switch Pro. Microsoft will need an AAA banger.
True but look at how that turned out in the long run for CDPR and I love CDPR but they should have delayed the game to 2022. Also, one other reason is that if I see Starfield get released in a bad state and before Halo Infinite, that worries and concerns me because uh oh, they’re now under Microsoft and shit is still going bad.
They need to eliminate any doubts and best way to do that is by releasing high quality games in a highly polished state.
My guess is a story trailer and a solid gameplay trailer in June with the full blowout being in October at X021. I can’t imagine them NOT having a showcase in the Fall for early 2022 games. That showcase can be for deep dive on Starfield (five months away) and Halo Infinite (one month away) while having a few smaller games that are scheduled to release in the first half of 2022.
But if they do end up at E3 announcing it for this year I am going to jump through the ceiling of excitement here, haha. Exactly like with Fallout 4 back then. It’s not like Xbox has tons of stuff aside from Halo and a yet unannounced game as per Jason Ronald. Bugs will always exist, especially so in a BGS game. I hope now with Xbox they can have a better, maybe bigger QA team, but the biggest RPGs out there now have bugs. For me this is not a reason they should skip 2021.
I believe Starfield should skip 2021 for several reasons -
Give them more time because they always need it and im not playing a clunky/janky/buggy game at launch especially if Halo Infinite is playing buttery smooth.
Starfield is a current gen only game. If it was me, I would looking to use 2021 as the end of cross-gen and simply move on to current gen only games in 2022 and beyond.
Microsoft will have Halo Infinite in November and I just don’t see any valid reason to take away any hype or interest from that game. Starfield would do just that.
Microsoft will most likely have the marketing deal for Battlefield 6 which im expecting in early October. Use that to their advantage should not be wasted or overshadowed.
I am expecting Forza Horizon 5 this year. Early/mid October. It’s a sports/racing genre and isn’t going to impact anything plus unlike Starfield, it’s a cross-gen game. Need to get it out in my opinion if it’s finished which I do believe that it will be.
Wolfenstein III should be pretty much done at this point. It’s going to be cross-gen and multi-platform in my opinion. wraps up the series for the time being and Machine Games can move on to Indiana Jones. I would not be having Wolfenstein III slip into 2022 at all. If it’s done and again, it should be because I don’t see why a linear corridor shooter wouldn’t be after 4 years, it needs to be released and before the heavy hitting FPS games start releasing in October. Plus, there’s no multi-player so a nice first or second week of September release sounds great to me.
Simply, based on a few of the above reasons, they have no valid reason to push out Starfield in what will be as usual a crowded Fall/Holiday season. Early 2022 (and all of 2022 in my opinion) will be stacked but I don’t want a repeat of 2021 where I have nothing new from Microsoft to play. And I mean their games from 1 of their 22 studios.
Flight Simulator is August, Wolfenstein III in September, Forza Horizon 5 in October, multi-platform games like Battlefield 6, COD, a new AC game which is pretty likely and of course Halo Infinite in November is a stacked second half of 2021 and this doesn’t include Psychonauts 2 if it does release in the Fall.
One other note - If Ghostwire Tokyo releases in October for PS5, this is another reason to NOT release Starfield because despite being on PS5, I can’t imagine that Microsoft would want to bury a brand new IP that they now own.
I truly wonder if a Starfield in 2022 has a much higher chance of being fully exclusive than a 2021 Starfield.
It would be easier to justify jettisoning a version of a game that comes out say Spring 2022, than a version of a game that comes out September/October of 2021.
Probably reading way too much into this, but in the video Bethesda released yesterday, Starfield appears halfway through alongside Dishonored Death of the Outsider, but not in the games of tomorrow section alongside Elder Scrolls 6 and Indy. Maybe it’s closer than we think?
Ubisoft will have a Fall/Holiday title as they always do. Rainbow Six Quarantine isn’t big enough to be that title and I see Far Cry 6 being delayed to 2022 plus with the massive amount of first person shooters between September and November, I can’t see Ubisoft pushing out Far Cry 6 so that leaves one franchise - Assassin’s Creed which is their biggest.
Origins/Odyssey released in back to back years. 2017/2018. 2019 was a skip year in favor of Breakpoint which wasn’t a good idea at all. 2020 was Valhalla and I see a smaller AC title most likely from Ubisoft Sofia (AC Rogue) to get released this year and in 2022, a current gen only AC title.
I personally believe that with a new generation of consoles and them going to $70 once cross-gen ends for them, I can’t see them skipping a year for AC unless they have a massive IP to replace it.
I can’t wait until we see Avowed and it could be this year, as per Sponger.
Since it’s first person (only I assume) the combat hopefully takes a few pages from something like Dishonored or even older, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Back then that combat system was legit and very fun! As much as I love TES, the combat system aside from bow and magic is not too great. I’ve always thought that it felt like hitting a tree with my sword when hitting enemies.
But this is well done in Arkane games. Maybe they can lend a hand for Avowed. I guess they call this hit reactions? I hope they nail that for Avowed and I wouldn’t mind it if it’s a little visceral too.
I don’t think that any development costs spent toward any PlayStation version of Starfield really means anything here. Those can just be “sunk costs” that are pretty much pennies for Microsoft to be honest, as compared to the potential “opportunity costs” of not using Starfield as an Xbox ecosystem exclusive to spur Game Pass growth in particular. I obviously don’t know what will happen for sure here of course, but this seems like a pretty obvious case of leveraging a brand new IP from a now first party studio.
Because of my playstyle games take me about twice as long as most folks to complete, for example The Outer Worlds took me over 50 hours to finish, so inXile’s game will probably take me at least that long if it really has only an average play time of 20-25 hours.
I’m going to write a wishlist for my blog on particular games coming to Xbox. I’ve done Hellblade 2 already. So I think I’ll do Fable and Perfect Dark next. What would you like t see from the games? Just to give me some ideas. (apologies if this isn’t allowed)
I’d like to see Perfect Dark give you a large play space in each mission (not open world, but something that makes Hitman’s levels look tiny in comparison) that incentivizes creativity and gives the players options on how they tackle a mission. They have to strike a right balance though, a balance that makes the player feel like THEY came up with a solution and aren’t just picking a lane. Blur the line between action and stealth.
Oh, and it would be nice if missions take place over a few days. Jo gets inserted into a city or whatever and you as the player have to plan out how you’re gonna infiltrate a location, gather intel and gear, and maybe do some recon.
As for Fable (and any other RPG for that matter), MAKE PLAYER CHOICE REALLY MATTER. I want to see a game rival the freedom of a D&D campaign or come close. CDPR seemed to fall flat on that (I can’t comment on that personally, but people I know who have played it were super let down by that in particular), so the field is still wide open for an RPG that really drives that home. I still think that’s what Bioware are planning with the new Dragon Age, but it would be a nice surprise if Fable did that. I am also aware of how crazy this idea is, but it feels like its the next step for AAA games in that genre.
