We know that Starfield is going to be an Xbox and PC exclusive game, but what about The Elder Scrolls 6? That's been largely left hanging in the air ever since the big Bethesda purchase earlier in the spring, but Xbox head Phil Spencer did provide us with a pretty big hint about future Bethesda titles at the time.
With the Bethesda purchase about "delivering great exclusive games" for Xbox, reporter Jeff Grubb said last August that TES6 is definitely going to be an Xbox exclusive. Now Phil has said that only Xbox and PC can deliver on The Elder Scrolls 6 because only those platforms are "the full complete package."
"It’s not about punishing any other platform, like I fundamentally believe all of the platforms can continue to grow,” Spencer said in an interview with GQ Magazine. “But in order to be on Xbox, I want us to be able to bring the full complete package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about Elder Scrolls VI. That would be true when I think about any of our franchises.”
It's interesting that Spencer is still dancing around the issue of exclusivity like it's a dirty word. It's true that nobody likes exclusive titles and we all want to play every game on every platform, but exclusives have been a cornerstone of console strategies for long enough that you'd think we wouldn't have to endure this strange dance any longer.
In the same interview, Spencer also discussed his impending retirement. Although he didn't provide a date, he did say that it was something that he's been thinking about after 33 years in the industry.
“You should do it when you think about the long-term health of the team," he said. "And that we’re making the right decisions on who to bet on. That has got to outlive me.”
You can read more about Spencer’s thoughts on Xbox and what Todd Howard thinks about making the next Elder Scrolls over at GQ here.