Update, June 26: Bethesda has now confirmed that a physical disc will be included in the Starfield Standard Edition; however, it seems that the more expensive Premium and Constellation Editions won’t.
In light of the fact that an Xbox Standard Edition video game disc is “included with physical purchases,” Bethesda’s primary support account tweeted an explanation. (Let’s hope that, unlike what happened with Xbox’s own Halo Infinite, the entire video game is on the disc.) The PC Standard Edition only comes with a code in a box, as you might expect.
You might be surprised to learn, however, that the Xbox versions of the Premium Edition and Constellation Edition only come with a video game code. That makes some sense given that both variations include a steelbook screen case in addition to five days of early access to Starfield. Yes, that is a steelbook case that is empty that you may put on your rack.
Update, June 25: According to a tweet from Bethesda Espaol, Starfield will be available on physical discs, however the Starfield Constellation Edition will only include a digital code.
The existence of a tangible disc “depends upon the edition,” the tweet from June 13 (equivalent via Google) claimed, adding that the Standard Edition “has a disc, while the Constellation Edition has a code inscribed on a collector’s product.”
That may be the reason the earlier today’s tweet was deleted. We’ve reached out to Bethesda for additional confirmation.
Initial report: Over the weekend, a since-deleted tweet from a Bethesda customer service agent confirmed that all physical copies of Starfield will “consist of a code for the selected platform,” emphasising further that “there are no physical discs.”
Although the tweet was deleted, a duplicate of the message is still accessible on the online archive website Wayback Machine.
While some fans are awaiting official Bethesda confirmation—it’s conceivable the tweet was entirely false, which is why it was taken down so quickly—others have outright criticised the choice, asking: “Y’all truly going to mail me an empty case for $70??”
Another disgruntled fan stated, “If this is true, I’m cancelling my preorder of the basic edition and premium upgrade. The entire reason I’m buying the video game is for the physical copy; if they only want my Gamepass money, so be it, I think.”
As of this writing, Bethesda has not yet confirmed either scenario, and the support account that broke the story has not yet explained why the tweet was deleted.
In case you missed it, Bethesda has once more engaged a fresh designer from the volunteer group creating an enthusiastic Fallout mod.
Project manager “Prilladog” announced “PatchworkProfessor’s” new role in a message shared on Fallout London’s Discord and social media platforms, assuring him that the team will “cheer [him] on every step of the method.”
In other news, concern that Sony would turn Starfield into a limited-edition PS5 exclusive was one of the reasons Microsoft purchased Bethesda and its parent company ZeniMax Media.
For titles like Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, Sony secured temporal exclusivity before Microsoft acquired ZeniMax and Bethesda. Both of those proposals were accepted even after the buyout was finalised, and despite the fact that the developers of those games were first-party Xbox companies, it was a full year before any of them appeared on the Xbox. Xbox manager Phil Spencer confirmed that there had been rumours that Starfield would experience the same problem during the hearings on the Xbox Activision bid.
Other revelations from the hearings include the fact that Xbox has not yet decided whether The Elder Scrolls 6 will be a special.
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