Phil Spencer Wants to Make Sure That Starfield is “The Most Played Todd Howard Game Ever”

In a recent interview with Axios, head of Xbox Phil Spencer talked about how he wishes Starfield to be one of Bethesda’s most played games ever. During the interview, Spencer also talked about some future plans regarding the recent Activision Blizzard deal.

Spencer started off by giving the example of Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 garnering massive player numbers at launch, thanks to their day and date availability on Xbox Game Pass. He wants Starfield to follow in the two games’ wake, and as such, his goal is to make it the most played Todd Howard game to date.

“I love the Forza 5 and Halo stats… I love how many people played Psychonauts 2 vs. Psychonauts 1,” he said. “So, when I look at the teams, when Todd and I talk about Starfield, it’s: ‘How do we make sure this is the most-played Todd Howard game ever?'”

“[Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5] are the most played games in those franchises because we made them available on more screens than we ever have, through more business models than we’ve ever made them available.”

Additionally, Spencer also talked about how adding the Activision Blizzard portfolio of games to Xbox Game Pass will be help in bringing many of its premium franchises such as the likes of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft to a much wider audience than before, making them even more popular further down the line. The deal is expected to close in summer 2023.

“Yeah, I want more people to be playing WoW in five years that are playing today,” he said. “I want more people to be playing Call of Duty in five years, more people to be playing Candy Crush in five years, because we’ve made it more accessible to more people.”

With Starfield being Bethesda’s first new IP in over 25 years, expectations are naturally high for the game. We have yet to receive a proper look at its gameplay, although Bethesda seems pretty confident about hitting its release date of 11 November 2022, meaning we are likely to hear more on the game in the coming months.

Spencer to me: “I love the Forza 5 and Halo stats…I love how many people played Psychonauts 2 vs. Psychonauts 1.

"So, when I look at the teams, when Todd and I talk about Starfield, it's: 'How do we make sure this is the most-played Todd Howard game ever?'"

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) February 8, 2022

Spencer: “Yeah, I want more people to be playing WoW in five years that are playing today. I want more people to be playing Call of Duty in five years, more people to be playing Candy Crush in five years, because we've made it more accessible to more people.”

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) February 8, 2022