Less than 24 hours before Xbox Series X and Series S pre-orders were set to go live around the world, Xbox made an announcement that has caught everyone in the world of gaming completely off guard.Microsoft has acquired ZeniMax Media, the parent company of the developer famous for its work onThe Elder ScrollsandFallout,Bethesda, for $7.5 billion. Along with Bethesda, Microsoft gained several other new studios as part of this deal as well, such as id Software, MachineGames, Arkane, Tango Gameworks, and ZeniMax Online Studios, just to name a few.
RELATED:Why Xbox Buying Bethesda Makes A Lot of Sense
However, this acquisition of Bethesda and its studios seems to show that therewassomething Xbox could do to sweeten its Game Pass offering. Not only will games likeSkyrimandThe Evil Within 2be available for players to play on Game Pass, but future Bethesda games will be available on the service as well. Not only that, but they will beavailableday oneon Game Pass. Players will actually be able to play massive upcoming titles likeThe Elder Scrolls 6andStarfieldat launch without purchasing the games.
This new partnership seems to be a win all around for players, Xbox, and Bethesda. Players will now be able to have access to all of Bethesda’s games (past, present, and future) as part of one low cost monthly subscription. Xbox now has a full stable of first-party Bethesda franchises that players would likely be willing to move to its platform to play. And Bethesda obtains a devoted partner in Xbox who is willing to assist the studio financially and technologically, such as creatingthe biggest engine overhaul sinceOblivionin anticipation ofThe Elder Scrolls 6.
However, it’s worth pointing out that Microsoft hasn’t always had the easiest transitions with its acquisitions. In 2002,Microsoft acquired Rare, the studio who at that time was behind theBanjo-Kazooieseries andPerfect Darkamong many other classic series that were closely associated with Nintendo. It took Microsoft a long period of time before it seemed like it understood what to do with Rare as a studio, and many fans haven’t forgotten how rough that transition was.
Despite that rough transition, however, Rare bounced back and has created many interesting titles on Xbox over the past few years such asRare Replay,Sea of Thieves, and, most recently,Battletoads. So while it is important to remember stumbles like the Rare acquisition, it’s perhaps more important to remember the recovery from the stumble. It seem like players will just have to have faith that Microsoft would likely not spend $7.5 billion on Bethesda if it didn’t know what it was doing with it.
