Microsoft has dealt a huge blow in the upcoming console war, as Xbox Game Studios has purchased ZeniMax Media (owners of companies like Bethesda and id Software) for $7.5 billion, giving it exclusive rights to the beloved Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and DOOM franchises. The past year has seen Microsoft and Sony buying up development studios, in an effort to ensure their next systems have exclusives, and this move is the mother of all acquisitions.
Over the past few years, Microsoft has brought several studios under the Xbox Game Studios banner, including Compulsion Games (We Happy Few), Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts), inXile Entertainment (Wasteland), Mojang Studios (Minecraft), Ninja Theory (Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice), Obsidian Entertainment (The Outer Worlds), and Undead Labs (State of Decay). Microsoft has been assembling a killers row of studios to help bolster the exclusives line-up of both Game Pass and the Xbox Series X/S.
In a move that that has shocked the industry, Microsoft has announced on the official Xbox website and Twitter page that it has purchased ZeniMax Media for a massive $7.5 billion sum. This means that the Xbox Game Studios now owns Alpha Dog Games, Arkane Studios, Bethesda Softworks, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, and Roundhouse Studios. Most importantly, the Xbox brand now owns franchises like DOOM, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls series, and it will likely wield these titanic franchises as AAA exclusives in the coming console generation to bolster Xbox Series console family sales and subscriptions. The deal is expected to be approved and completed during the second half of 2021.
The question that many are asking now is what this means for the future of franchises like DOOM and Fallout, as well as how Xbox will handle other previously assumed multiplatform titles that have been announced, like Starfield. The Mojang deal proved that Microsoft is willing to license out its games to other systems, and the company particularly has no issues working with Nintendo, as seen when Ori and the Will of the Wisps recently came to Switch. Turning games like The Elder Scrolls VI, Fallout 5, and Starfield into Xbox console exclusives would be a huge blow to Sony, but those titles are still years away and Microsoft might see the profit in bringing those games to PlayStation consoles in the future.
What is known from statements made by Bethesda is that the ZeniMax games will be launching on Xbox Game Pass upon launch, which is going to be a huge incentive for purchasing the service. Game Pass is the best deal in gaming already, and it’s about to become even more valuable for subscribers. The ability to play brand new Doom, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls games on day one could turn Game Pass into the video game equivalent of Netflix that it has always aimed to be.
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will be available on November 10, 2020.
Source: Xbox, Xbox/Twitter