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[Official] Microsoft has purchased Zenimax Media/Bethesda

Kazaam

Kazaam

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,761
London
This is terrible. From what someone on Era has heard, if Xbox loses ground this generation, Microsoft will kill the Xbox division. All these studios gone by the end of the generation :(

EDIT:This was a sarcastic reference to another user's post
 
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Deleted member 10737

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
49,774
lol, phil changed his avatar

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tzare

tzare

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,145
Catalunya
Interesting to see the reactions of some members here, this doesn't seem a studio with financial problems or things like that. And the good words guy Phil, yeah , just that, nice PR but in the end all do the same.

Will be fun if sony starts adquiring studios too.
 
Carbon

Carbon

Deploying the stealth Cruise Missile
Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,963
HOLY WOW That is some news to wake up to.

Not a fan of this much consolidation, but this is a huge get for MS.
 
tyfon

tyfon

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,680
Norway
Bold One said:
So, is this anti-consumer or not?
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All these acquisitions are anti-consumer.
Just look at Ninja theory, they took a perfectly fine multiplatform game and bought the sequel basically. Now I won't be able to play it.

And it goes the other way too, it's much better if Sony and Microsoft actually builds studios instead of just buying them for their own benefit.
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,285
Well, let's hope Elder Scrolls 6 stays a non-GaaS single-player RPG - I don't care too much about everything else.
 
Sia

Sia

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Jun 9, 2020
825
Canada
Vengeance said:
I agree, but this is what happens when 3rd party games are being bought left and right for some sort of exclusivity. I said before that doing this will force MS and Sony to respond to each other and MS has so much more to spend than Sony. Sucks for consumers, but that's business for you.
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Is that a joke? Microsoft has been paying for 3rd party exclusives since the original Xbox, in fact they currently have more 3rd party exclusives announced for Xsex than Sony does for the PS5
 
Yuuber

Yuuber

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,159
Dance Inferno said:
I mean look, when Sony bought Insomniac people around here cheered. At least with Microsoft you'll be able to play these games on PC, which is more than you can say for Sony.
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You're comparing a studio which produced mainly for Playstation versus a Publisher with several studios and relevant IPs.

This is unprecedented.
 
Buckle

Buckle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
41,305
Huge get for Microsoft.

As always though, exclusivity fucking sucks for players. MS making bank off it though.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,428
Transistor said:
Did they ever make it that PC Game Pass games could be modded? Because that's the only way I'll play Fallout and Elder Scrolls through Game Pass.

Otherwise, it's the Steam versions all the way.
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Sure can. They added that earlier this year. Can access folders for moddable games just the same as Steam. I know Mechwarrior 5 has mod support on Game Pass PC, not sure what others do.
 
Roxas

Roxas

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
3,626
Buenos Aires, Argentina
CesareNorrez said:
I suppose it's more likely, but both studios have their own projects and Bethesda is probably working on Fallout 5. So if it happens it will not be anytime soon. I'm not sure if Microsoft care about who works on Fallout, so I can't see them pressuring Bethesda to give it to someone else. So don't expect it to happen.
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Oh no, for sure, Microsoft seems content to leave studios be, and for sure they will not mess with BGS seeing as they're great as is, but they could do a spin-off at a point, seeing as Starfield is BGSs next game, and then TES6, so Fallout 5 is likely about 5-10 years away
 
wotta

wotta

Member
Oct 27, 2017
173
RoastBeeph said:
I really don't understand why so many people in this thread believe future Bethesda titles will continue to be multiplatform. When have we ever seen Microsoft or Sony acquire a Studio then allow that Studio to continue to make games multiplatform (don't point to Minecraft. That title was already out on all platforms when MS bought them)? From a business sense, that would be pointless. You acquire studios to make games exclusive to your platform to make your ecosystem the one people want to buy into. I don't think MS spent $7.5 billion to allow Bethesda to put their big hitters on the PS5.

People keep complaining about how there is nothing on Xbox they want to play. This is how MS goes about changing that. They acquire strong studios to make games that people can only play on Xbox or PC. This is how Microsoft get their TLOU or God of War. Those will be the next Elder Scrolls and Starfield, maybe Fallout New Vegas 2. Those are the premier titles that will be MS only that will drive people to buy into the MS Ecosystem.
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Bethesda is publishing the games. If they were exclusive Xbox would be. Quite simple really.

Xbox cares about making money. Game Pass + charging £70 to PlayStation owners = win win.
 
GSG

GSG

Member
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,051
I know people were complaining about Sony's timed exclusive and the Spiderman Avengers bullshit, but this is way more shitty than all of that.
 
ClayModel

ClayModel

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,941
Welp, I was planning to buy an xbox series s in the future anyways but bloody hell, this just move that purchase up if that means I can get TEW3 and Prey 2. But also on the other hand, monopoly is bad...
 
LebGuns

LebGuns

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,130
User banned (5 days): Console warring
Can't make their own games, so they're just outright buying all the studios that do? This is some shit.
 
Aniki

Aniki

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,809
marecki said:
That's not how this works, this is a buyout, not an investment from MS. All this money will go to exiting execs and shareholders, not a cent will go to developers or be invested in future games. It is for this reason I think this is a shitty move, that money could've been spent on setting up dozen new studios, creating thousands of new jobs for developers, but nope.
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Some of the other buyouts also lead to a noticeable increase in production values for the devs their current games compared to their past ones. So i doubt they won't do the same for their new studios should they see the need for it.
 
Cosmic Voyager

Cosmic Voyager

Banned
Oct 24, 2019
6,560
Sasliquid said:
Yep, I imagine Sony are looking at SE, Capcom and Sega right now but Sony do not have the same available cash as Microsoft.
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Not saying that Sony should acquire any of those companies, but they are definitely capable of doing it. The notion that they don't have enough money is a myth:

Matt said:
AB and Activision would be 10s of billions of dollars. That's basically the only third party game-focused companies that cost would apply to.

And even then, while I agree they are too big for an aquasition to ever make sense, Sony is still easily large enough to acquire them if that's really what they wanted to do.

Sony is not a small or poor company.
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entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
60,672
Hugare said:
I'm truly in shock right now

Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom, Wolfenstein, Dishonored and more

All exclusives from now on, from one fucking move

I'm sad, because I love a lot of those franchises, and I'm user of Sony ecosystem for quite some time

The number of IPs that Microsoft is acquiring here all at once is unprecedented, holy shit
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My guess is that will not be an exclusive thing. It will be more like Minecraft.

This is a GamePass play.
 
antispin

antispin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,788
I hope Sony and Nintendo would allow Gamepass on their platforms. That'd be awesome. One monthly sub and play anywhere (even if cross-save is out of the question). But I doubt they'd want a competing store on their platform. Yeah, I know that technically, it's not a store, but technically it is, since it devalues their own store's value proposition and competes with sales on their platforms.

Anyway, digressing. Would be interesting to see if MS publishes on Sony consoles too. I think they will. It's all about recurring subscription revenue and software revenue for them, if I understand Nadella's strategy correctly.
 
Simuly

Simuly

Alt-Account
Banned
Jul 8, 2019
1,281
Can't wait to play these MS games on my PS5. Everyone wins :)

That said, this acquisition is horrible.
 
Betty

Betty

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,604
Bear said:
I doubt it'll happen but we'll see. They don't really need another massive acquisition after this one. Bethesda buys them a lot of momentum.
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They want to become gaming's Netflix, they're absolutely buying more.

Yakuza 7 being timed exclusive on next gen for Xbox makes me think Sega is the next one.

But then there's the recent EA sub added to game pass so perhaps they're next.
 
CatAssTrophy

CatAssTrophy

Member
Dec 4, 2017
7,686
Texas
Maledict said:
People cheering this is utterly beyond my understanding. This isn't a single game, or even a studio.

It's one of the largest independent publishers and developers in gaming being swallowed up by MS. Not because MS has been wildly successful in gaming, but because it has a ton of cash from other parts of their business. It is *never* a positive when creative industries conglomerate like this, and when market leaders use cash in this way.

This is not good for the industry, and it's definitely not a good indicator of the health of the industry.
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This.

They are buying success instead of developing it or fostering it. This is not an Insomiac situation. Timed Oblivion exclusivity doesn't make them have the same kind of relationship with MS the way studios Sony acquired had with them. These are the same discussions we've had for the last year or so when any rumors about MS/Sony buying a big studio/publisher crop up.

Don't let gamepass dazzle you into thinking this is somehow a good thing for the industry because it's absolutely not. If Sony retaliates and buys a big pub it will be one more step toward consolidation of the industry.
 

OldMuffin

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,179
Holy sh*t, with a move like this, I genuinely think no one is safe from ms... maybe like epic, ea or Activision, but even still I can see them being acquired as well... like I'm still trying to process this 😂
 
Bardeh

Bardeh

Member
Jun 15, 2018
2,745
Selfishly, this appears to be good news for me because Game Pass is about to get a ton of awesome games, but I don't think massive acquisitions like this are good for the industry as a whole. I guess we'll need to wait and see how MS approach this - I would be very surprised if we never saw another Bethesda/Zenimax Studios on PlayStation again. That would be leaving a TON of money on the table.
 
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