Reports, leaks and rumours for the upcoming Xbox Series X|S exclusives Redfall and Starfield release dates have been flying around the internet the last few days, suggesting that the two delayed Bethesda games are due out between April and June 2023.
As the rumours go, Redfall was aiming for a March release, but Arkane and Bethesda have pushed the launch back by around six weeks to now target the first week of May 2023 – per Windows Central.
This means that the Starfield release date could now be before Redfall, aiming for the end of March or beginning of April, though a firm date is apparently yet to be decided.
These are firmly in the realm of rumours right now, but it is expected that Microsoft will hold and Xbox and Bethesda showcase some time in the next month or two to make various announcements, including the Redfall and Starfield release date. It’s needed, given the company’s total absence from The Game Awards last month.
This reporting matches up with what Bethesda stated when delaying both games from 2022. “We’ve made the decision to delay the launches of Redfall and Starfield to the first half of 2023,” they stated in May of last year. This statement of intent has not been contradicted by Bethesda since then, and the company has also just launched a support site that declares that Starfield will still have a first half 2023 launch.
Starfield was previously expected for release on 11th November 2022, but was delayed to 2023.
A lot of this seems like common sense when considering that Microsoft will want to try and spread out the launch of their first party games, many of which are due out in the first half of this year. In addition to Redfall and Starfield, there’s also Minecraft Legends and Forza Motorsport, and while they will have different demographics, it doesn’t make much sense to cluster games too closely together.
The one date that we can pin down on the Xbox release calendar is that of Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire: Tokyo. The spooky first person adventure launched on 25th March 2022 for PS5 with a one year exclusivity deal in place from before Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media. As with Deathloop, we can expect it to drop onto Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Game Pass pretty much on that day.
It’s also worthwhile trying to avoid clashing with major third party titles. Skull and Bones, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Resident Evil 4 are all out in March, while there’s much more breathing room in April and May, which are high-pointed by Dead Island 2 in the former and Suicide Squad in the latter.
With all of that, the Starfield release date still seems to be completely up in the air, and even Redfall’s is far from set in stone. Typically this kind of leak would be more specific, but if even Microsoft and Bethesda haven’t yet made up their minds? Well, then it’s like trying to grab a cloud of smoke.
