Microsoft first announced its acquisition of ZeniMax Media Inc. around six months ago. Now, after a long period of certifications, that deal has finally been completed. This acquisition brings Bethesda Game Studios and all of its vassal studios into the Xbox family; something which could prove to be one of the largest shifts in the gaming industry for years.
Bethesda Officially Acquired by Microsoft
The acquisition of ZeniMax (and by extension, Bethesda) by Microsoft is the company’s most expensive gaming purchase ever. At $7.5 billion, the figure is close to triple the amount Microsoft paid to acquire Minecraft. As ZeniMax owns a range of studios, the deal has brought no less than eight different development studios under Microsoft’s ownership; Alpha Dog Games, Arkane Studios, Bethesda Softworks, id Software, MachineGames, Roundhouse Studios, Tango Gameworks, and ZeniMax Online Studios.
“This is an exciting day for Xbox,” writes Xbox head Phil Spencer, in a celebratory blog post; “[…] This is the next step in building an industry-leading first party studios team, a commitment we have to our Xbox community. With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games.”
Thus far, neither Bethesda nor Microsoft have confirmed that any upcoming games will be Xbox-exclusive. However, Spencer’s blog post does confirm what many had already expected; “including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players,” he writes. Of course, this is likely to apply to games that have yet to be announced. Microsoft has already confirmed that games which had already been announced for other platforms will remain available on all platforms. The first change which Xbox and PC gamers can look forward to is more existing Bethesda games coming to Xbox Game Pass. These will reportedly be announced in the next few days.