Bethesda Softworks’ Pete Hines testified on June 22 that Starfield was an incredibly large game and that’s why he supported making it an Xbox and PC exclusive.
Starfield, coming this fall and already twice delayed, is an “irresponsibly large game,” according to Pete Hines, the longtime Bethesda Softworks executive who is now its head of publishing.
Hines made the comment in testimony during Thursday’s hearing, in federal court, where the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is seeking to stop Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The point Hines was making is that developing Starfield for platforms other than Microsoft’s Windows PC or Xbox Series would assuredly mean another delay for the newest role-playing franchise from Bethesda Softworks, which Microsoft now owns.
Under questioning by an FTC lawyer, Hines agreed that he personally supported the decision to make Starfield an Xbox console exclusive. “As someone who has been playing it a lot and sees all this stuff to do,” Hines said, “there’s no question in my mind that being able to focus on fewer platforms to support, hardware to support, has been a big benefit to that team.
