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[Official] Microsoft has purchased Zenimax Media/Bethesda

OneBadMutha

OneBadMutha

Member
Nov 2, 2017
6,059
Matt said:
You are wrong unfortunately. Those other acquisitions were small or in areas MS didn't have their own operations built up.

MS doesn't need two of all the teams they now have two of.
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I don't feel like Microsoft was centrally staffed to support all this growth. They leaned out gaming a lot under Windows and a publisher was always in play once they decided to re-commit to gaming. Going from 6 studios to 23 is a lot for any publisher to handle within 2 years time and if they didn't buy a publisher, expanding those operations would've made sense either way.

Also these things don't exist in a vacuum. With the way Zenimax had been trending lately, nobody would have been surprised if entire studios got shuttered. I think it's way too early to say if this is bad for employees of Zenimax. Going by Nadella statements regarding acquisitions in the past, I personally think people should wait before doom and glooming the employees that work there.
 
Iwao

Iwao

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,798
AnotherDayAnotherDollar said:
For people saying Sony should buy a publisher to counter this (add about ~20-30% to the below as they'd have to pay a premium. And that's assuming no bidding war). There are no cheap options.

Take Two - 18.7B
EA - 37B
Activsion - 62.5B
Ubisoft - 10.5B
CD Projekt - 10.5B
Konami - 6B
Capcom - 7.5B
Square Enix - 7.8B
Nintendo - 75B
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Sony could do it (Capcom and Square would be the most realistic), but it's not smart. They could acquire several sizeable and talented studios for a fraction of the size of one big publisher, and over the next few years they probably will.
 
ATOMICJORGE

ATOMICJORGE

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,431
EidgXsIWAAEFRa4
 

Deleted member 61469

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Nov 17, 2019
1,587
Stillmatic said:
Huh? These were third party titles released on multiple platforms. The situation hasn't changed for people that would've already had access to these IP's. There is only negative for the consumer, as millions of gamers now lose access when they otherwise would've had it. It only benefits MS.
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lol have you been living under a rock? Sony has been snatching up Bethesda games left and right. Apparently they were in talks for Starfield too.

fuck them.
 
Guru Meditation

Guru Meditation

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,156
laziboi said:
It means that Bethesda will be a separate publisher under the Xbox Wing. Which means they'll have a bit more freedom to make games for other platforms like PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. Compared to Xbox Game Studios, which may be more inclined to lock their games to Xbox Consoles and PC.
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Wishful thinking. Microsoft will make the decision, come on now. They didn't purchase them to let them publish on their competitor's platform without their input.
 

Deleted member 46804

User requested account closure
Banned
Aug 17, 2018
4,129
calibos said:
Console, PC or Android phone for Gamepass.

PC or Console for purchase if you aren't in a position to use Gamepass.

Unless you are hardcore Sony only person...then you are outside looking in. Gamers really should broaden their horizons beyond one ecosystem anyways.
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This is a really important thing to remember. As Microsoft makes a play at streaming, less and less people will not have access to these games. They will add a streaming client to the PC along with Android. Basically the subscription fee and a good internet connection will be the only barrier at some point for the people that don't have or don't want an Xbox.
 
Anoxida

Anoxida

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,534
calibos said:
Console, PC or Android phone for Gamepass.

PC or Console for purchase if you aren't in a position to use Gamepass.

Unless you are hardcore Sony only person...then you are outside looking in. Gamers really should broaden their horizons beyond one ecosystem anyways.
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For the people who can only afford one console (which is alot) this is bad news. Either you comitt to Sony and probably miss out on ES6 and Starfield or you go MS and miss out on Sony exclusives. Just because this might be good for some of us doesn't mean it's not bad for people as well. These games would've been available on all platforms and now they're not. That's not a good thing.
 
Tonkatsu_ramen

Tonkatsu_ramen

Member
Oct 26, 2017
178
Vancouver
I just hope that with this acquisition, the next Fallout or TES6 will be relatively bug free on launch. With a backer like Microsoft, surely QA and game quality should improve.
 

Frunkalicious

Member
Oct 28, 2017
287
Bönthö said:
This just can't be seen as a good thing when the acquisition has a major negative effect on the majority of console gamers as PS5 gamers can't play these games
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There are no PS5 gamers, yet. Im not trying to argue semantics, rather this is important to remember. For all we know, Xbox might end up with the bigger userbase when all is said and done.
 

Deleted member 43

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 24, 2017
9,271
OneBadMutha said:
I don't feel like Microsoft was centrally staffed to support all this growth. They leaned out gaming a lot under Windows and a publisher was always in play once they decided to re-commit to gaming. Going from 6 studios to 23 is a lot for any publisher to handle within 2 years time and if they didn't buy a publisher, expanding those operations would've made sense either way.

Also these things don't exist in a vacuum. With the way Zenimax had been trending lately, nobody would have been surprised if entire studios got shuttered. I think it's way too early to say if this is bad for employees of Zenimax. Going by Nadella statements regarding acquisitions in the past, I personally think people should wait before doom and glooming the employees that work there.
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That's a very optimistic outlook you have. It would be wonderful if it worked out like that.
 
JayBabay

JayBabay

Member
Oct 25, 2017
700
California
I'm pretty sure, from the language of the press release, that these game's are still coming to Sony and Nintendo. Big benefit to Xbox and PC is day and date GP though.
 
Gamer @ Heart

Gamer @ Heart

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,589
Fabtacular said:
Damn, feel like MS should have shook the couch cushions a bit and came up with the extra $3B to buy Ubisoft.

(Of course, Ubisoft spent a ton of time fending off the Vivendi acquisition so it's actually a non-starter. Just pretty impressive to see how close Zenimax and Ubi are in market cap.)
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Ubisoft is 10x bigger than Zenimax in terms of employees. That would have been a nightmare merger. Like you said though, the owners of Ubi don't want to sell so it's a non starter anyway
 
eraFROMAN

eraFROMAN

One Winged Slayer
Member
Mar 12, 2019
2,887
Uzupedro said:
There will be some cuts unfortunately, it's the nature of this type of acquisition.
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Oh I get that, and it's never ever fun. I basically got the rundown of the Activision layoffs as they were happening, and it's horribly unfair what happens when this many people are at the mercy of buddy buddy corporations. My hope is that this results in more support for the crew than lay offs, that's the energy I want to project at this news. Consider that Zenimax ate up a lot of companies recently, and now they ALL have to play by Microsoft's rules or lose a pretty significant publishing partner is a nightmare, because the employees have zero say despite doing all of the work.
 
Quellyford

Quellyford

Member
May 16, 2020
4,031
Like Tim Gettys said on KindaFunny:

At E3, there are usually 7 BIG conferences:

Nintendo, Sony, Xbox, EA, Ubisoft, Activision, Bethesda.

MICROSOFT JUST STRAIGHT UP BOUGHT AN ENTIRE E3 PRESS CONFERENCE WORTH OF STUFF!!!
 
Cyclonesweep

Cyclonesweep

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
7,690
At the end of the day all the games you want to play will never be on one console. That's unfortunately the sad truth.

It now comes down to which you prefer even more so than before
 
UltimateHigh

UltimateHigh

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,500
man, once all these studios start kicking into high gear, microsoft is gonna have an Insane amount of console exclusives, if they go that route.

all day one on game pass. fucking a.
 
Gay Bowser

Gay Bowser

Member
Oct 30, 2017
17,707
Iwao said:
Sony could do it (Capcom and Square would be the most realistic), but it's not smart. They could acquire several sizeable and talented studios for a fraction of the size of one big publisher.
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Yeah. Sony is still the console market leader, they don't really need to rush. They can grow through internal development and through smaller acquisitions when it makes sense.
 
thievingSince95

thievingSince95

Member
Sep 8, 2020
100
Anoxida said:
For the people who can only afford one console (which is alot) this is bad news. Either you comitt to Sony and probably miss out on ES6 and Starfield or you go MS and miss out on Sony exclusives. Just because this might be good for some of us doesn't mean it's not bad for people as well. These games would've been available on all platforms and now they're not. That's not a good thing.
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Ok but those are literally the same thing. Sony has decided to publish games through their first party that could be available on all platforms but they're not. Sony choosing not publish an XSX version of God of War: Ragnarok is EXACTLY THE SAME as Microsoft choosing not to publish a PS5 version of the next Elder Scrolls game. That's exclusivity. I don't love it but it's how the industry works.
 
Starlite

Starlite

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
565
laziboi said:
As Phil said, it'll be a case-by-case basis. I imagine most Bethesda games will still be multiplatform, but we may see more timed exclusives on Xbox, maybe even full on exclusives.
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What makes you think "case-by-case basis" would mean most of Bethesda's titles? I think it's far more likely to only refer to minor releases a la ports and Fallout Shelter-type games, games that aren't really gonna push subscriptions or system sales. Probably concurrently running online titles like Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls Online as well, since there are current user bases on PlayStation.

You have no reason to believe Starfield or the next installments of Fallout, Elder Scrolls etc. will be coming to PlayStation. Phil's comment might as well have been a shrug.
 
Returners

Returners

Member
Oct 25, 2017
432
Quellyford said:
Like Tim Gettys said on KindaFunny:

At E3, there are usually 7 BIG conferences:

Nintendo, Sony, Xbox, EA, Ubisoft, Activision, Bethesda.

MICROSOFT JUST STRAIGHT UP BOUGHT AN ENTIRE E3 PRESS CONFERENCE WORTH OF STUFF!!!
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Bethesda is the new kid on the block and Activision hasn't been doing press conferences for years either.

I'm surprised Square Enix didn't come up in that discussion.
 

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Oct 27, 2017
49,774
laziboi said:
As Phil said, it'll be a case-by-case basis. I imagine most Bethesda games will still be multiplatform, but we may see more timed exclusives on Xbox, maybe even full on exclusives.
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you're too optimistic. they didn't spend 7.5 billion to publish multiplatform titles. i expect everything post-2022 to be px/xbox.
 
Ensoul

Ensoul

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,348
All the way I look I'm the only games I really have interest in are the fallout and elder scrolls franchises (not the online version of the game)

By the time these games actually come out the high end Xbox will be selling for 300 bucks so I can buy the console the
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,708
-Tetsuo- said:
I already addressed this. People will obviously need to make the choice for what system suits them best. And lol@ retaliate. You need to relax, breh.
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Sony isn't going to respond to this kind of aggressive action by doing nothing. They will respond in kind because they have to in order to prevent other third parties from being pulled away from their platform. And once we get to the point where both Sony and Microsoft are throwing out protective buyouts to prevent content from being isolated from their platforms, the other companies looking to build footholds will be forced to do the same to ensure they even have options for ANYTHING.

Like I'm sorry, but this is not a good sign. Matt is right, this is only going to lead to more buyouts, more people being upset, and less games in general available for everyone. I'm not being hysterical, I'm reading very obvious writing on the wall - this isn't stopping here.
 
laziboi

laziboi

Alt-account
Banned
Oct 25, 2019
1,918
Your Anus
Starlite said:
What makes you think "case-by-case basis" would mean most of Bethesda's titles? I think it's far more likely to only refer to minor releases a la ports and Fallut Shelter-type games. Probably concurrently running online titles like Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls Online, where there are current user bases on PlayStation.
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Most major Bethesda franchises will be multiplatform. But some smaller titles will likely be timed or full exclusive.
 
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