catfood
AGAIN
If you can afford the 7.5 bln transaction you can afford the few million bribe for the EU commissars.
Xbox and Bethesda will talk this week about what the acquisition means
Regulators in the United States and Europe approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Zenimax Media, and that means Bethesda is now an Xbox studio. But what does that mean for the companies involved and for fans of games like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls? Well, Microsoft is going to start answering those questions with a video presentation on Thursday, March 11, according to sources familiar with the plans.
Microsoft is unlikely to get into the specifics about Bethesda’s upcoming projects. Details about the previously announced sci-fi role-playing adventure Starfield will likely come this summer, so Xbox and Bethesda won’t talk about that now. Instead, they will explain what the deal means for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
In particular, a number of Bethesda games should make the leap to Game Pass soon. Microsoft will also use this time to reiterate that any future (and contractually eligible) game from under the Zenimax umbrella will hit Game Pass at launch.
Xbox and Bethesda are also not planning to mash together their summer showcases. Both companies are preparing announcements for around E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show), but they will hold them separately. Microsoft, however, may try to present them back-to-back as part of a one-two punch for Xbox.
Finally, it’s still unclear whether Microsoft and Bethesda will address the question of platform exclusivity. PlayStation fans want to know if Bethesda releases like Starfield, Indiana Jones, or The Elder Scrolls VI will also launch on PS5. The Thursday presentation may provide a black-and-white answer, or it might keep things gray — especially if its plans are more nuanced and conditional from game to game.
Microsoft will likely confirm the event in the next day or two.
Officially Welcoming Bethesda to Team Xbox
Publisher of iconic gaming franchises will expand Xbox’s diverse portfolio on Xbox Game Pass
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.
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.
As we shared previously, it’s vitally important that Bethesda continues making games the way it always has. We look forward to empowering Bethesda’s creative teams to reach even more players around the world, helping make future Bethesda titles the biggest and most popular games in their history. Xbox and Bethesda have long shared a common vision for the future of gaming. Both as fans and as creators, Bethesda understands the potential of Xbox Game Pass.
We would also like to honor the life and memory of my close friend Robert A. Altman, founder of ZeniMax Media. Robert believed deeply in the power of gaming and we are privileged to be able to continue his work by joining forces with the teams he built and led for many years. I will miss the opportunity to work directly with him on the future of our combined teams but I know that his spirit will live on in the shared work we do and motivate us to make this partnership all he envisioned.
Thank you to all our players for joining us on this incredible journey and to the millions of Bethesda fans around the world. Now that we’re one team, we can start working together on the future ahead. 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!
BETHESDA + XBOX: JUST GETTING STARTED
Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for Bethesda Softworks as part of the Xbox Team at Microsoft.
While you might have thought this already happened following last year's announcement, it is only now becoming official as the deal has passed the requisite regulatory approvals and been signed. If you haven’t had a chance to read what Phil Spencer, Todd Howard, and I wrote in our posts when we announced our plans last year, you should take a moment to read them each, as well as Phil’s Xbox Wire post today.
First, let me say that we’re not making any landmark announcements or changes right now. As we’ve all shared, the expectation is that Bethesda Softworks and our studios will continue as we have in the past, just with more support and resources than we’ve ever had before. Obviously, Game Pass has been an important initiative for Xbox, and we’ll be working on putting even more of our games into Game Pass than ever before. Beyond that? Stay tuned, we’re just getting started together.
Second, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that it is a bittersweet day given that our founder, Robert Altman, passed away last month. Among his many admirable qualities was the incredible spirit of family and loyalty that he shared with all of us. I will be forever grateful for his efforts to find the perfect place for ZeniMax, Bethesda, and our studios and employees to continue their excellent work going forward.
I’d also like to thank Phil Spencer and all the folks at Xbox and Microsoft who have been such a pleasure to work with as we prepare for this new chapter. The collaboration, mutual respect, and support they’ve shown to us during this process has been extraordinary. I’m pleased to continue the great relationships we’ve built together over the past few decades, first as partners and now as colleagues in the same company.
And of course, I want to say thanks to all of you for your support. It is not something we ever take lightly or for granted. This year marks 35 years since the original creation of Bethesda Softworks. Reaching a milestone like that, while also going through a historic occasion like this acquisition, puts in perspective just how far we’ve come in that time. A journey that wouldn’t be worth it without all of you to share it with.
So after Deathloop and Ghostwire and maybe Indiana Jones, nothing?including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.
So after Deathloop and Ghostwire and maybe Indiana Jones, nothing?including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.
As long as Super Mutant Petey gets thoroughly rogered in the whole deal.Todd, on the other hand, will be playing ball like a motherfucker. I would expect him to be the next CEO, though the presence of Robert Altman's son does confuse things. Bethesda was privately owned so Altman could have, if he wanted to, just given the business to his son (and I am told this was the original plan). But now that they are owned by a publicly traded company, they'll have to go through more official channels. I'm not sure what that means, TBH.
But if I was a betting man, my money'd be on Todd Howard getting the big boy chair.
This is a non-sensical statement. How does a huge multinational corporation "not care about profit," that is literally all they care about. They only care about market dominance because it nets them more profit.of course they'll only be released on xbox and PC, microsoft doesn't give a shit about profit it's all about market dominance
You make a good point. My initial gut reaction was that they would keep these studios exclusive, especially the big releases, but I didn't consider other markets. Microsoft is expanding their reach onto other platforms with distant market shares. However, some of the articles posted in this thread has me thinking that Microsoft is fairly confident about keeping Bethesda games exclusive to their brand. I suppose it comes down to how well Elder Scrolls and Fallout (and the wider Bethesda Game Studios brand) will sell outside of the NA/EU/OCE circle. What do you think?They would not dare to make current franchises like Elder Scrolls, etc, console exclusives. That would be insane and terrifically damaging to their brand.
You make a good point. My initial gut reaction was that they would keep these studios exclusive, especially the big releases, but I didn't consider other markets. Microsoft is expanding their reach onto other platforms with distant market shares. However, some of the articles posted in this thread has me thinking that Microsoft is fairly confident about keeping Bethesda games exclusive to their brand. I suppose it comes down to how well Elder Scrolls and Fallout (and the wider Bethesda Game Studios brand) will sell outside of the NA/EU/OCE circle. What do you think?They would not dare to make current franchises like Elder Scrolls, etc, console exclusives. That would be insane and terrifically damaging to their brand.
The thing that gets me about the whole "it's the games stupid" line of thinking is that we've been down that road how many times now? The PS3's sluggish start that allowed the XBox 360 to leap ahead in popularity was due to limited library, this is an experience that should be sitting somewhere in the back of some Microsoft exec's mind as a "hey remember when that happened?" They'd probably at best smugly chuckle to themselves about how they clobbered Sony in the western markets, and that's something to keep in mind - but will they remember anything more salient about that? IIRC due to the title shortage for PS3 there were a ton of overseas players still creating a huge market for PS2 titles because that's what they had and that's what had games. Microsoft wasn't able to break into foreign markets like that despite Sony screwing the pooch IIRC.You make a good point. My initial gut reaction was that they would keep these studios exclusive, especially the big releases, but I didn't consider other markets. Microsoft is expanding their reach onto other platforms with distant market shares. However, some of the articles posted in this thread has me thinking that Microsoft is fairly confident about keeping Bethesda games exclusive to their brand. I suppose it comes down to how well Elder Scrolls and Fallout (and the wider Bethesda Game Studios brand) will sell outside of the NA/EU/OCE circle. What do you think?They would not dare to make current franchises like Elder Scrolls, etc, console exclusives. That would be insane and terrifically damaging to their brand.
It has been my experience that most Bethesda titles are relatively unheard of in Japan, South Korea, etc. Skyrim did well there, and was the only western RPG at the time to get a perfect score in Famitsu. But people were playing on PS3/PS4 and then Switch. PC Gaming is not nearly as big of a thing there, and almost nobody owns an Xbox.
This is the position that Xbox and MSFT (therefore PC gaming, to a large degree) are in. The PS brand is simply much more popular globally. Last time I checked, the three highest console-using countries were Japan, South Korea, and the United States. PlayStation has penetration in the US, but XBox does not have penetration in Japan, not really. So they need to be very, very careful about limiting themselves to exclusives.
The other thing to consider about this whole business is that it is content driven; that is, it is driven by the games. Consoles are loss leaders and have been for almost 3 decades. MSFT needs to start thinking like a video game publisher now. And smart publishers reach as many platforms as they can, unless there is a significant advantage to going with an exclusive. Xbox is slowly becoming less about hardware, and more about games. It is clear that they will make way more money off software sales than hardware sales, at this point (again, this isn't new but something that will have been ramped up with their recent acquisitions). Spencer is a smart dude, he knows which way this business is going. It is all about content.
USA has some of the fastest wired broadband in the worldbecause of the horrible state of the Internet in the NA,