Phil Spencer: "We will continue to work to better meet expectations" after Starfield and Redfall delays

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Xbox's 2022 lineup got a lot weaker with today's news

Starfield trailer reveal still cockpit view
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Following Redfall and Starfield delays which considerably weakened Xbox's 2022 lineup, Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer assured fans that Xbox studios "will continue to work to better meet expectations." 

"These decisions are hard on teams making the games and our fans," Spencer said in a tweet sharing Bethesda's delay announcement. "While I fully support giving teams time to release these great games when they are ready, we hear the feedback. Delivering quality and consistency is expected; we will continue to work to better meet those expectations."

There's also something to be said for the ever-widening gulf between promised release dates and realistic ones, especially in the uncertain circumstances that the games industry is still grappling with. Xbox is far from the only company facing this challenge, but as "the feedback" Spencer mentions would indicate, it is acutely aware of it right now.

This news has come at a bad time for Xbox, as the company faced heavy criticism of its DRM policy after a recent outage left many players unable to launch any games for days. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.