Bethesda would NOT need to have a separate event if they would plan to DELAY the release beyond E3. E3 would be the event to announce the delay

I don't understand how you could think that, then.

Moving forward, developers will still set an exact intended release date, which is not visible to players. Separately, devs can also choose their desired store display from five options-- with the freedom to adjust between those options as they see fit prior to release.

The exact date. “Aug 24, 2023”

Month-and-year. “August 2023”

The quarter of the calendar year. “Q3 2023”

The year. "2023"

No date at all. “Coming Soon”

It's a two part process.

  1. Set exact intended release date. This is not visible to players.

  2. Separately, choose desired store display. If they do not choose an option with a month, day or year, store display will default to "Coming Soon".

/r/Starfield Thread Parent