PlayStation has seemingly thrown shade at Starfield while announcing the release date shake-up for Baldur's Gate 3. Starfield is easily one of the most highly-anticipated Xbox console exclusive games in years. There's a great deal of hype for Bethesda's new open world sci-fi RPG, and many are anxious to see if it will live up to expectations.When Starfield launches, it will be going head-to-head with Baldur's Gate 3, another highly-anticipated RPG. What makes matters more interesting is that Baldur's Gate 3 will be a PS5 console exclusive at launch, meaning an Xbox exclusive is going head-to-head with a PS5 timed-exclusive. Baldur's Gate 3 will be making its way to Xbox at some point down the line, though Starfield is expected to remain an Xbox console exclusive game. The PS5 version of Baldur's Gate 3 recently changed its release date from August 31 to September 6, the same day that Starfield launches, putting the two RPGs in even more direct competition. In a tweet that announced the release date change, Sony made sure to point out that Baldur's Gate 3 is launching September 6 on PS5 "with 60fps." The accompanying blog post, written by Larian Studios, took things a step further, adding, "This brief delay allows us more time to achieve our ambition of 60 frames per second, thanks to the power of PlayStation 5." While it could merely be a coincidence, it does seem like these statements are meant to poke at Starfield, which infamously will not have a 60 fps option on Xbox. Instead, Starfield players can only play the Xbox version at 30 frames per second.
Again, this could be a mere coincidence, but it seems deliberate. After all, 60 fps was not the focus of the blog post. It was instead mostly about Baldur's Gate 3 companions and character creation. The fact that the tweet singled out 60 fps at the same time that it confirmed Baldur's Gate 3 would now be releasing on the same day as Starfield makes it seem like the intent was to throw shade in the Xbox exclusive's direction.
Bethesda seems confident that locking Starfield at 30 frames per second on consoles is the right move, but fans will be able to decide for themselves sooner rather than later. Starfield's early access plan means those that purchase the Premium version, or the Premium Upgrade if they have Game Pass, can jump in as early as August 31 in some regions and decide for themselves if Bethesda's ambitious open world sci-fi RPG suffers all that much from being locked at 30 fps.
Starfield launches September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X.