Starfield was originally going to launch on PS5 too, leaked documents confirm

Starfield stands as Microsoft’s big-hitting Xbox exclusive after a long track record of struggling in that regard up against PlayStation—but it wasn’t always planned to be this way.

Microsoft’s ongoing case with the FTC regarding the planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues to lead to some pretty significant reveals, and Starfield’s initial cross-platform launch is among the latest developments.

An internal email thread among Microsoft executives from 2020, prior to the company’s purchase of ZeniMax games, showed a list of expected titles from the studios and the release dates they hoped for.

Among them, with an initial release window in 2021, was Starfield, listed to be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows—though it also came alongside a note that added “no next-gen work done to date.”

For ZeniMax, previous owners of Bethesda, a planned release of November 2021 for Starfield was incredibly optimistic, though was of course hindered by the coronavirus pandemic that pushed its release further back.

Given that plans for a PS5 release were seemingly underway, however, gamers on the Sony platform may well feel shorthanded after missing out on the game entirely—although there cannot be too many complaints given the long list of PlayStation exclusives that Xbox gamers have missed out on.

The latest round of documents also revealed that plans for remakes of Fallout 3 and Oblivion are on the cards, though there’s no word of whether they too would be Microsoft exclusives, and it seems all but official that Elder Scrolls VI will not be on PlayStation—though again, that’s not too surprising.

While it all adds up to disappointing news for PlayStation gamers, they can at least comfort themselves with the upcoming release of Spider-Man 2 that Xbox players will only be able to glare enviously toward.