Xbox has been in talks to acquire The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim developer and publisher, Bethesda Softworks for quite some time now, but it looks like the deal has officially been finalized. As of March 9, the official Xbox and Bethesda Twitter accounts have announced that Bethesda will be joining Xbox. “Today we have officially joined the @Xbox family.” says Bethesda in a tweet. This is great news for Xbox and Bethesda fans all around the world, but maybe not so much for PlayStation fans as Xbox boss, Phil Spencer, confirms that some future Bethesda games will be Xbox/PC exclusives under Microsoft. “Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games.” So what does Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda mean for the future of Bethesda games?
Xbox/Bethesda Studio Acquisition
As you’ve read above, in a blog post written by the Head of Xbox himself, Phil Spencer, welcoming Bethesda to the team, he states “This is an exciting day for Xbox. Today we officially complete the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks. It’s an honor to welcome the eight incredibly talented development studios – Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios – and their passionate global communities to the Xbox family. Now that everything is official, we can begin working together to deliver more great games to everyone. At every step building toward this moment, I’ve been inspired and motivated by the creativity, insight, and community-first approach of the talented people at Bethesda. Our goal is to give these teams the best foundation for doing their greatest work and to learn from them as we continue to build Xbox into an inclusive platform for all players.” If you were previously unaware, Bethesda is a major part of id Software (DOOM Eternal, Rage, Rage 2, Quake Champions), ZeniMax Online Studios (The Elder Scrolls Online, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Quake), Arkane (Dishonored, Deathloop, Prey), MachineGames (Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood), Tango GameWorks (GhostWire: Tokyo, The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2), Alpha Dog (Wraithborne, MonstroCity: Rampage), and Roundhouse Studios (formerly Human Head Studios).
Xbox Semi-Exclusives
Spencer also states “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, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.” What exactly does this mean for the future of Bethesda titles? Well, for starters, it means that there will be some Bethesda games in the future that will end up being Xbox and/or PC exclusive (through the Windows Store on PC, most likely). While this is certainly great news for Xbox players, fans of PlayStation may be slightly bitter about the decision to make Bethesda titles semi-exclusive to the Microsoft console. However, it doesn’t say anywhere which future Bethesda titles may end up becoming semi-exclusives, so I’m sure that The Elder Scrolls 6 is still probably safe for all consoles. I think that if Bethesda and Xbox decided to take The Elder Scrolls 6 away from PlayStation consoles, it would effectively be shooting themselves in the foot and they would lose quite a bit of money because of that decision. We know that Deathloop, developed by Arkane Studios, is already set to release for all platforms including PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, so there’s no way that they would make it an Xbox exclusive now, but what other projects does Bethesda have in store that could be added to the Xbox exclusive list of games in the future? I strongly doubt another DOOM or Fallout game would be on the list of potential games to exclude from the PlayStation library.
Future of Bethesda
It doesn’t look like that’s the end of what’s to come for the Microsoft and Bethesda merger, as Phil Spencer also states “We will have more to share about what’s next for our teams later this year. In the meantime, to properly celebrate this special moment, we are bringing additional Bethesda games into Xbox Game Pass later this week. Stay tuned for more details!” What Bethesda titles could make their way onto Xbox Game Pass? We’ve already got quite a lineup, so Xbox must be planning something especially big for this announcement later this week.
It looks like the future of Bethesda and Xbox is looking extremely bright, while the future of Bethesda and PlayStation is looking quite grim. I, for one, am excited to see where this acquisition leads both companies and will definitely be following it as more developments emerge.Xbox
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