Company News Bethesda acquired by Microsoft

[prengle]

this deal has some absolutely fucking heinous implications that i don't feel like sperging over right now - but i will say this isn't actually completely unexpected, considering that:

1. zenimax has been buddy-buddy with microsoft for almost 2 decades... i always said morrowind selling like hotcakes on the xboxhueg was what cemented their downfall
   
2. zenimax has been wanting to go public for years apparently (i think they wanted providence equity firm to buy their asses out but that never happened). robert trump croaked a few months ago and he was suposedly the biggest advocate (which consists of decrepit jewish bankers and execs who have been fuckbuddies for ages - no they don't know what a "videogame" is) for keeping the company private. now that he's out of the picture and les moonves is lying low following his rapey stint at cbs, i'm guessing this along with some other shit gave bob altman the motivation to finally sell off the company and technically go public. i'm not sure what microshit is getting out of this other than dozens of hypothetical Windows 10™ UWP™ and Sexbox™ Exclusives™ tho. i'm surprised they just flat out bought the entire fucking company
   
3. both corporations seem to have been established and controlled by malevolent eldritch beings hellbent on controlling the human race

what i'm wondering right now is how exactly zenimax will be absorbed into microsoft - is bob altman going to be one of the higher ups at xbox game studios in a year from now? what about the rest of the zenimax board? is microsoft going to be the megacorp that forces paid mods onto the masses? agiroegmk59@$@$@4;;;;;;;;;;;; penis

Except Oculus is in direct competition with Hololense. That'd be like working with your competitor.
I don't think Zuck will like that very much. carmack JUMP SHIP run! RUN! GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN! lol

carmack already has a history of casually working with monstrously evil companies and not caring because he's carmack and he's a fucking android. his reaction to this entire thing simply being "great! zenimax can't send cia agents to my house anymore!" is amazing tho

 

[Roguey]

Fuck man, Fargo isn't a conman, he's a failson.

Fargo built up his fortune himself using a Wells as an investor.

 

[commie]

I have a feeling InXile just became a whole lot less important to Microsoft. In the eyes of the marketing suits you'd think it was bought to cater RPG niche for the gamepass and now they have Bethesda. If Fargo's company bleeds money I doubt they'll bother keeping it alive.

It won't matter. The sub companies aren't to make money, they are there to provide content for Game Pass. The Microsoft strategy is not to sell the games themselves as much as to sell the subscription. They don't have to be great games for the main, just the kinds of games that are good value filler and which run on a variety of devices. Any company will only be merged or dissolved if they don't reach a minimum standard or even more importantly, a production deadline for content. With this in mind, any company is just as at risk as another.

 

[Crispy]

Not sure if asked already, but does this finally mean the end to Gamebryo?

Please?

 

[RobotSquirrel]

what about the rest of the zenimax board?

Altman - likely cashed out
Bruckheimer - likely cashed out
Les Moonves - I would say abandoned his shares/sold them to altman when he went into Exile or he's cashed out and the IRS will be knocking
Robert Trump - dead
the rest - no one cares and they barely did anything anyway
Providence Equity Group - likely are the reason the sale happened. Rumour last year was they were shopping for a buyer its turned out completely true. Cashed out OR transferred into Microsoft shareholders.

 

[Nas92]

Huge news for sure, but honestly, is anything's really gonna change? ZeniMax was cancerous af already, it can't really get too much worse after FO76 and all the shitty mobile and card games. Actually maybe this will finally mean that Starfield and TESVI gets out of development hell.

The only thing that may be a cause for concern is what'll happen to the Bethesda-owned titles still on GOG?

 

[Glop_dweller]

So... Elderscrolls 6 could come with a Genie companion, named Courtesanna.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

So... Elderscrolls 6 could come with a Genie companion, named Courtesanna.

And fallout comes with a talking paperclip....

 

[Popot]

Nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the gamedev slaughter that will be coming next.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

what about the rest of the zenimax board?

Altman - likely cashed out
Bruckheimer - likely cashed out
Les Moonves - I would say abandoned his shares/sold them to altman when he went into Exile or he's cashed out and the IRS will be knocking
Robert Trump - dead
the rest - no one cares and they barely did anything anyway
Providence Equity Group - likely are the reason the sale happened. Rumour last year was they were shopping for a buyer its turned out completely true. Cashed out OR transferred into Microsoft shareholders.

Les Moonves is getting #metoo'd right now, and in the non-meme way.

 

[V_K]

No game company has ever lasted through time more than a decade or two, if you think about.

Valve doesn't look like it's going anywhere soon. Although who knows.
Similarly, Infogrames (founded 1983) is still technically in business although not in the business of game development.
But the purest example is probably Jeff Vogel who's been around since 1994 and I'll eat my hat if someone bothers to buy him out.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

Nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the gamedev slaughter that will be coming next.

Don't forget the creative stagnation. I always love that part. Fable 3 was fun times. Watching that game blow up in pete's face lol.

Fun times.

 

[thesecret1]

No game company has ever lasted through time more than a decade or two, if you think about.

AliceSoft (アリスソフト, ArisuSofuto) (sometimes Alice Soft) was established in 1989

 

[DraQ]

Guys, are you more excited for The Elder Scrolls: Minecraft or Minecraft: Return of the Dragonborn?

The Elder Scrolls: New Vivec.

 

[Bulo]

The zeroes, Todd, what do they mean?!

 

[Morality Games]

Bethesda acquired by Microsoft

Next,

Sony acquired by Microsoft.

 

[prengle]

what about the rest of the zenimax board?

Altman - likely cashed out
Bruckheimer - likely cashed out
Les Moonves - I would say abandoned his shares/sold them to altman when he went into Exile or he's cashed out and the IRS will be knocking
Robert Trump - dead
the rest - no one cares and they barely did anything anyway
Providence Equity Group - likely are the reason the sale happened. Rumour last year was they were shopping for a buyer its turned out completely true. Cashed out OR transferred into Microsoft shareholders.

the thought that robert and lynda are likely worth billions now thanks to this deal haunts me. i will now take a piss and continue to pray that both of them conveniently die in a robert maxwell-esque yacht accident

 

[Rostere]

The optimism people have about Microsoft buying up things and "fixing/reviving" them is wholly unwarranted and makes me laugh in MechWarrior

MechWarrior 4 was good for what it was.

 

[Glop_dweller]

And fallout comes with a talking paperclip....

Worse...

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Now, Microsoft, please buy Ice-Pick Lodge and give them a budget, for God's sake. Those poor chaps are considering setting up a Patreon to fund their games.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

I mean there is no way Bethesda are going to get worse by this purchase. The only way to go is up right?

A lot of decent games "by Bethesda" are just published by them and are made by other studios anyway (Arkane, idsoftware, etc). After FO4 we only have the flop that is FO76 (which arguably recover). Microsoft will probably beat some discipline into Bethesda or something.

 

[Shitty Kitty]

Not sure if asked already, but does this finally mean the end to Gamebryo?

Please?

The beatings use of Gamebryo will continue until morale the profit projection improves.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

This is so cool Josh could make another Fallout again!

 

[Bulo]

This is so cool Josh could make another Fallout again!

Without John Gonzalez and MCA, he'd be at a profound disadvantage.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

This is so cool Josh could make another Fallout again!

Without John Gonzalez and MCA, he'd be at a profound disadvantage.

But Deadfire was totally fierce without them