Starfield nears finish line as Phil Spencer & Pete Hines spotted playing live build on Xbox

Ethan Dean
Star Field High Res

Despite being less than two months away, the wait for Bethesda’s Starfield feels like it’s lasting an eternity. Signs of life are starting to stir though as super detectives on the internet noticed Xbox higher-ups playing a new build direct on Xbox Live.

Since the massive Starfield Direct aired during this year’s Summer Games Fest, news on Bethesda’s space-faring RPG has been sparse. It makes sense, the showcase for the game was comprehensive, to say the least.

The deep dive showed off a staggering amount of features and mechanics like shipbuilding, space privateering, romancing NPCs, and the tiniest glimpse of what the internet is calling ‘space magic’.

Fan communities have been salivating for even the tiniest morsel of Starfield news to tide them over until they can take a giant leap for mankind themselves. It seems some lucky folks have already taken that leap, however, with Microsoft’s Head of Xbox Phil Spencer getting more than a morsel.

It’s not just Spencer though. Both he and Senior Vice President of Bethesda Pete Hines have publicly viewable Xbox Live profiles and each has the game visible in their recent history.

This was spied by eagle-eyed Reddit user cyberRakan and posted to the game’s sub. Fans in the comments seethed with jealousy, most of them sarcastically.

It should be noted that pre-release copies of games are usually obscured by codenames or deliberately kept offline. This could be a hint that what Spencer and Hines have their hands on is close to the final build for the title.

Bethesda and Xbox have expressed extreme confidence in the polish of the game’s release version. It’s possible that these heavyweights within the two companies’ corporate structures are making sure that confidence is well placed.

Starfield
Starfield is almost ready for lift-off. The game launches September 6, 2023

While we can’t help but be jealous of Spencer and Hines ourselves, Dexerto has been planning ahead for the release of Starfield.

We’ve got a number of informative guides on things like preloading and Steam Deck compatibility. You can be sure to expect a review and post-launch guides when the time for those comes.

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