Starfield has continuously been at the forefront of two rumors: developer Bethesda Game Studios is nearly done with development and has been looking at a release around the 2021 holiday season. Both rumors have now been scrapped by multiple reputable sources.
Taking to Twitter earlier today, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier stated that the development of Starfield is actually “nowhere near done” and hence will be releasing later than expected.
He added that the new science-fiction role-playing project was being helmed by a “very small team” until 2019. The developer by all means needs more time than what rumors have been suggesting for several months now.
Rumors like this keep floating around but Starfield is nowhere near done, according to several ppl familiar with development. It'll be at E3 but the planned release date I've heard is way later than most people expect. Sharing this so that folks keep their expectations in check https://t.co/LVFzmX1XYu
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) May 20, 2021
To further nail down the development status and release window, The Verge editor Tom Warren shared the same sentiments as well.
yup, not coming this year.
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 20, 2021
The good news however being that Starfield will be appearing at the upcoming all-digital Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next month. This remains to be officially announced by Bethesda Game Studios and Microsoft but Schreier, being a notable source, has confirmed the game to be finally receiving a reveal at E3 2021.
Starfield was announced back in 2018 as the first new Bethesda intellectual property in over two decades. The game has been said to be a console exclusive for Xbox Series X owing to the acquisition of ZeniMax Media by Microsoft which has brought Bethesda (and all other related studios) under the first-party wing of Xbox Game Studios.
Starfield will be strictly single-player with an open-world larger than The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout 4. There will be modding support, pilotable and customizable spaceships, and other role-playing elements which for the time being remain to be officially acknowledged.