Starfield was delayed partly because Xbox has "experienced shipping games too early"

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has explained some of the thinking behind the recent Starfield delay, calling the move "the right thing to do."

Chatting with The Verge (cheers, PC Gamer), Spencer said the decision (he argues against calling it 'a decision') to delay Starfield was made in part because Xbox has released games prematurely in the past. 

"It isn’t really a decision to move a game after spending the team’s effort over multiple years just to get to a point where you know you’re not going to deliver the game you want on the date that was promised," Spencer said. "Now, it is at some level, because I have shipped games too early. We have experienced shipping games too early."

Spencer could be referring to any number of games one might argue were shipped a little too soon, Halo Infinite being the most recent example, but it sounds like he doesn't intend to repeat his mistakes with Starfield.

"In hindsight, when you look at a game like Starfield, it’s taken so long and so much investment in new IP from the team," he said. "The decision to give the team the time to build the game that they feel they should be building is just the right thing to do."

"There are financial implications to those decisions. Weighing what is going to happen, whether it’s platform growth, subscriber growth, or frankly, the revenue that you generate when a new game launches, those are business decisions. You definitely have to weigh the outcome of those decisions."

Spencer's comments about delaying Starfield couldn't be more timely. Just a few days ago, fans were mourning what was originally Starfield's November 11 release date.

Starfield is due out on Xbox Series X/S and PC in the first half of 2023. To secure your copy as soon as possible, don't miss our Starfield pre-order guide.

Here are all of the Starfield backgrounds and starting skills we know about.