Sony wanted to buy Starfield exclusivity but Xbox bought Bethesda

It’s been revealed that Sony was in talks to purchase a timed exclusivity deal for Bethesda’s Starfield before Xbox purchased the company outright. 

The massive acquisition deal – which will cost Microsoft a gargantuan $7.5 billion – has guaranteed Xbox exclusivity for games from Bethesda Softworks and all of its studios. All of the studios games will also be available in Xbox Game Pass on launch day.

However, what’s most intriguing about the deal is that Sony was in talks to purchase a timed exclusivity deal with Bethesda for their upcoming sci-fi RPG Starfield. According to trusted journalist Imran Khan, the studio was allegedly discussing the idea for months.

“FUN NOTE: Sony had been negotiating timed exclusivity on Starfield as recently as a few months ago,” Khan wrote. “Going to guess either those talks are done or the price suddenly went way, way up.”

FUN NOTE: Sony had been negotiating timed exclusivity on Starfield as recently as a few months ago. Going to guess either those talks are done or the price suddenly went way, way up.

— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) September 21, 2020

Starfield is set to be Bethesda Game Studios’ next AAA RPG, shaking up their library of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Announced in 2018 at E3, the title was revealed as a project that studio head Todd Howard has wanted to make for a long time. Following that game’s release, the studio will be focused on The Elder Scrolls 6.

While Microsoft will own every studio and IP under the ZeniMax Media blanket, they will still be publishing titles that have exclusivity deals with PlayStation. This includes Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire Tokyo and Arkane’s Deathloop, both timed exclusives.

If you want some fun light reading, you could check out our list of things we hope happen following the Bethesda acquisition.