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Microsoft acquires Zenimax/Bethesda

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N

NoMoChokeSJ

Banned
Liamario said:
Has Microsoft provided the details in terms of exclusivity? I mean surely they'd clarify that all these franchises are now exclusive to Xbox. I think they're going down the gamepass route. Day one on game pass, everyone else has to pay full price per game.
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Absolutely. MS is not a stupid company, nor are they in it to lose money. My belief is that they are playing the long game. MS doesn't care if they have the most dominate console in the video game world. It is much more profitable to them if they get a piece of every game sold or a large amount of games sold. Their winning and Sony's winning are different. Sony is thinking about now and MS and thinking about 10 years from now. Sometimes this philosophy bites them in the ass like the push for all digital last gen, other times it pays off like xbox live.
 
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Rhazer Fusion

Rhazer Fusion

Member
Are the Bethesda games exclusive to Xbox though or is it like a Minecraft type deal where their games still are multiplatform? If the games are exclusive, then this could be huge for Microsoft, but if not then I don’t know.
 
chigstoke

chigstoke

Member
Rhazer Fusion said:
Are the Bethesda games exclusive to Xbox though or is it like a Minecraft type deal where their games still are multiplatform? If the games are exclusive, then this could be huge for Microsoft, but if not then I don’t know.
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I would imagine it goes that current published Zenimax games continue to receive support and DLC going forward on other platforms.
PS5 exclusive games have their contracts honoured.

And then from that point, it becomes Xbox and PC, plus xcloud, for future games.
 
Bernkastel

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Rhazer Fusion said:
Are the Bethesda games exclusive to Xbox though or is it like a Minecraft type deal where their games still are multiplatform? If the games are exclusive, then this could be huge for Microsoft, but if not then I don’t know.
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They will honor the contractual deals(Ghostwire/Deathloop) and then slowly move to exclusivity. ESO will remain multiplatform.
 
J

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
So does that means Starfield will finally be released and we get TES6?

I was excited at first but then I remembered those games were still years off. I mean, what does Bethesda acutally have except their dormant catalogue? Show me Starfield or TES6, then we can talk about me buying an Xbox.
 
Stuart360

Stuart360

Member
Rhazer Fusion said:
Are the Bethesda games exclusive to Xbox though or is it like a Minecraft type deal where their games still are multiplatform? If the games are exclusive, then this could be huge for Microsoft, but if not then I don’t know.
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Stuart360 said:
'the deals we have in place will be honoured. The thing this is about is a huge commitment in our Xbox community, we now have 23 studios and those games will come to Xbox and Gamepass'

Phils comments in the interview with CNBC.

It looks like future games will be Xbox console exclusive.
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E

El Pistolero

Banned
Grinchy said:
I'm so late to the news, but god damn. I'm not sure what to think yet. This is 3 times the amount they paid for Minecraft, which they went on to sell more than 100M copies (after buying it!) and tons of licensing deals and toys and stuff.

With such a massive acquisition of not only a developer, but also a publisher, I have to wonder if the endgame really is to just completely cut PS5 out. From a publishing perspective, that wouldn't make sense. But maybe MS has gone fully crazy and just paid $7.5B to buy game pass profits 10+ years from now or something...
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Yep, that is the end goal. I have always found it surprising that on US centric forums, Sony was considered as the behemoth and MS the valiant warrior that needs to prevail against all odds and slay the Japanese dragon, when Sony has always been the outsider and the much smaller firm. This is just the confirmation that having as much money and clout as MS has definitely skews the market. Good for MS...But a shitty news for the industry as a whole.
 
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S

Self High Five

Member
Hix said:
The meltdown on that other place is magnificent, in one breath desperate Sony fans are calling for their favourite company to buy Square-Enix/Capcom/etc, to make their IPs exclusive, while also begging MS to make their IPs multiplat.
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Agreed. It's hilarious.

It's also hilarious seeing how personal you & others are taking this acquisition as well. A billion dollar corporation making a billion dollar acquisition that may likely affect how you use certain pieces of plastic.
 
Rhazer Fusion

Rhazer Fusion

Member
chigstoke said:
I would imagine it goes that current published Zenimax games continue to receive support and DLC going forward on other platforms.
PS5 exclusive games have their contracts honoured.

And then from that point, it becomes Xbox and PC, plus xcloud, for future games.
Click to expand...

I see.
 
CrustyBritches

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
Bragr said:
Xbox has an advantage in one area over Playstation and it's becoming more and more clear, and that's Microsoft connection to PC and Game Pass being a console and PC service. Xbox doesn't give a shit if you buy it on console or PC, as long as you use Game Pass. This opens the door for PC gamers in a way Sony can't match.
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Furthermore, you can use a big chunk of Game Pass without ever owning a PC or a console just by subbing to GP Ultimate and playing via xCloud. Crazy shit.

---

On topic, what makes sense for MS with this acquisition is to put these games on every platform that's not PlayStation.
 
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BusierDonkey

BusierDonkey

Member
Holy shit what a huge get!

Fallout, Dishonored, Doom, Elder Scrolls, The Evil Within, Rage, Wolfenstein, Prey, Thief, Quake.

Those are some big names with a long history in video games and have massive presence on PC.

It will be interesting to see if they improve under Microsoft, or shrivel up and die. I'm hoping it works out because Bethesda makes games I feel are tailor-made for me. Just turn off waypoints, pick a direction, and see what you run into.

I'm curious how they will handle previous contracts. They honored contracts already in place before with newly acquired studios, so I'm sure the PS5 will still get their timed exclusive Deathloop and Ghostline:Tokyo, as well as MMOs like ES:O which will get the same treatment as minecraft.
 
NullZ3r0

NullZ3r0

Banned
DragoonKain said:
Elder Scrolls VI exclusive would be pretty wild. I guess we’ll find out in 2023.
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Now that I think about it, this game may be further along and not announced due to this impending deal. We need one more MS event before launch with this announcement along with Perfect Dark.
 
Z

zcaa0g

Banned
I don't have a dog in this fight as my primary gaming device is a PC, but I do have all of the Big 3 console platforms. I'm not sure if they have the disposable cash for it because I haven't looked, but if Sony wanted to spice things up, they could buy EA and make all of the sports titles exclusives as an example. I'm glad MS did this and this is going to be a far more entertaining battle now. Good on MS.
 
P

PumpkinPie

Banned
This is phenomenal. People were talking about Microsoft giving up on the Xbox brand after the Kinect farce. Then they come up with gamepass, and now this. They're really serious!
 
TheAssist

TheAssist

Member
Huh outright buying a whole publisher. Not bad.
Not gonna lie, except for doom Bethesda's output was kinda shite this gen (did Dishonoured 2 come out this gen?).
But who knows what the exact reason were for that. Maybe that money injection can make Bethesda great again. Would be nice to see some good RPG's from them again.
With an actual new and working engine. Believable worlds. Interesting characters. And a well told story. That'd be nice.

But I wonder how the Deathloop deal was made when they were talking with MS about outright being bought up.

Will be interesting to see how Sony reacts to that. I dont think they have that kind of money laying around.
I would assume its more efficient to nurture and grow their existing studios. Increase one team studios into two team studios and such. Maybe try and develop very close relationships with up and coming studios, giving them creative freedom so they want to join for comparatively little money. That seems to be what Sony does with studios like Naughty Dog, Insomniac, etc. Though that takes a lot of time.

Well, at the very least it seams this gen is gonna be reallllly interesting. Nintendo having the time of their live with the switch, PC getting amazing hardware at somewhat reasonable prices, Sony and MS battling it out over console exclusives and other parties like Google trying to get into the business.
 
Rick Dangerous

Rick Dangerous

Member
Anyone treating this as good news is blind : bigbrother is becoming real and this is frightening.
Gafa should not be fought against, they are way too powerfull.
They should be outlawed at least here in Europe.
This giants are so rich they can stiffle any competition by buying competitors.
This is actually a direct threat to democracy.

This is a nightmare.
 
Ogbert

Ogbert

Member
There is categorically no way Fallout or Elder Scrolls are going to be on PS5. You don’t spend 7.5 billion on an acquisition to then start worrying about missing out on sales on the PS store. Minecraft is different. It was already everywhere.

MS are going to buy more studios and, in ten years’ time, the Gamepass model will be the main framework for consuming video games.
 
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