The Deal is Official
We all knew it was coming but today it finally becomes official: Bethesda has joined the Xbox family.
Back in September 2020, Microsoft announced that they were purchasing Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax. Along with the purchase of ZeniMax came eight development studios; Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios.
Today, the deal has been finalized as Bethesda officially joins the Xbox family.
Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer welcomed the company to the team in a new post made to Xbox’s news site.
“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.” Spencer writes. “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.
Now, here comes the part everyone has been waiting to here about –exclusivity. Spencer states that “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.“
While the post doesn’t specify which titles will be multi-platform and which will be Xbox/PC exclusives moving forward, we now officially have confirmation that some of Bethesda’s titles will be joining Halo and Gears of War in the line of Xbox exclusives.
Microsoft acquiring Bethesda is a huge deal for the company. According to the original offer made by Microsoft, the company is worth a whopping $7.5 billion dollars to them.
While it may be unclear right now as to what games Microsoft will keep as exclusives –any of Bethesda’s more successful titles like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or Doom would make incredible additions to the company’s line-up.
Expect to hear plenty more coming from Xbox and Bethesda moving forward.