So Microsoft just bought Bethesda

MS has been putting their games on steam for a while. Windows store exclusivity hasn't really been as much of a thing.

ooo boy

@ll_exile_ll: it's a lot more of a thing if you want to save a few sheckles and play something through gamepass on PC. I did that for the master chief collection and Sea of Thieves. Wasn't that bad, really.

Well, it seems this generation has finally turned interesting.

I don't really care about Bethesda, I think their output and politics after New Vegas has been problematic... but I wasn't aware the sale included ID and Arkhane...

Put your money where your mouth is and give me a Morrowind remaster, you cowards.

How great will the fallout from this acquisition be ?

@pudking: I can only pray that the legacy won’t be dishonored.

@humanity: @pudking: Let's be honest, Sony are doomed.

I'd rather MS buy any studio over EA or Activision, so it's good news from that standpoint. I'd rather they bought WB since I like their games better and that way they'd be on Game Pass. A game like Deathloop is something I would've skipped that I'll now checkout if it's on Game Pass. I don't like the Id stuff enough to buy their games, but I'll check that out too. Elder Scrolls being Xbox/PC exclusive is crazy.

I'm a big fan of Bethesda an their games, at least up until FO4 and 76.

Not sure how I feel about this. In a perfect world, all these studios can create cool games now.

In the real world (which sucks) some of these studios will be closed down if their games don't gain enough traction. Sadly, I think Obsidian and/or InXile might be the first ones to go, if their stuff does not hit 100 percent. Edit: Not that they are part of this latest aquisition, but their games do have a lot of overlap with Bethesda.

It's sort of this cycle with a lot of these aquisitions. I bet some of the studios MS bought will only make one more game and then get folded into 343 or Coalition or cease to exist.

Now, the Bethesda studios might be fine for a couple of years.

And honestly: GIVE FALLOUT TO OBSIDIAN. They deserve another shot.

Is it weird that all I can focus on is the 7.5 billion dollars? That's a lot of money to have just laying around. A lot of money that just went to one corporation buying another corporation. A lot of money that I presume Microsoft intends to make back over time.

Probably being incredibly optimistic here, but I'm thinking this move will be for the total opposite of exclusives. If games from Microsoft-owned studios are available on PS5, it will just make Sony look stingier when they horde their exclusives for years.

@humanity: @humanity: y’all are falling prey to some lame ass jokes

Single handily confirmed that I’ll eventually get a series X through their subsidiary plan

Or wait till they all come to Xcloud

@brian_: Microsoft is a really huge company, that has always been part of the deal there. Its why they can eat the losses on these consoles as well.

And Spencer has been talking about buying more stuff for a while. I guess we didn't think this big, but just for reference I heard talk about EA, and that was said to be not happening but MS can make big things happen if they want.

I'm not sure how excited that large video game companies are merging. I mean, I like game pass and all, but I'm not sure I need so many games to go the Netflix model.

@superfriend: Yup, MS will be responsible for killing some studios ppl like in a couple years.

@liquiddragon: This humor is all Wet.

Obsidian is going to make another Fallout game now. I just feel it.

@toughshed: Sure. It just hard for me to wrap my head around just the idea of anyone having 7.5 billion dollars and how they decide to spend it.

@liquiddragon: if they haven’t closed Double Fine yet then I think other studios are fine for the time being.

@humanity: we’ll see after they put out psychonauts 2. I mean, if all those studios put out quality work like bleeding edge, we have nothing to worry about!

I'm a little confused. Does this mean Microsoft now also owns the development studios that work with Bethesda Softworks such as iD, Arkane, & other ZeniMax devs?

@vaiz: @liquiddragon: @humanity: @pudking: If I see one more Bethesda pun, I'm going to go Rogue Warrior

On one hand what a bad time to buy them, Fallout and Elder Scrolls have grown stale, too many remasters, etc.

But on the other hand that's probably why they were buyable.

Hopefully a good one this time

@vaiz: you just wanted to say wet and I don’t blame you.

Is it bad if Wet might be the only Bethesda game I have even the slightest reverence for?

EDIT: Oh wait. Wolfenstein. I forgot I liked The New Order.

holy shit

Honestly, this doesn’t move the needle at all for me. I don’t care about any of the IPs that were shown in the XBOX + Bethesda banner, but I’d be a fool to say this isn’t a blockbuster move.

I do wonder if this actually means the games will go platform exclusive or not though. I mean, while it would be a coup for Microsoft, I could see a lot of people getting upset at being forced to buy a specific console to play games that were, in the past, platform agnostic. Yes, the circumstances are different, but humans are not ones governed by logic or reason.

I imagine a lot of the bigger titles (TES, Fallout, DOOM, Wolfenstein) may stay multi-platform, while some “smaller” stuff like Dishonored and The Evil Within go XBOX & PC only. Yeah, Microsoft may “miss out” on sales of their box, but they still get profits from sales of the games on Sony and Nintendo consoles too, which could likely balance things out in the end.

Yes. According to the article on Ars Technica, Microsoft is actually purchasing the parent company, ZeniMax Media, and not just Bethesda.

Edit: Here’s a link to the Ars Technica story. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/09/microsoft-purchases-bethesda-softworks-in-industry-changing-acquisition/

@gundato: ninja theory is def a strong asset. They make games i might skip for $60-70 a pop but as a part of gamepass? Fuck yeah, ill play those!

@liquiddragon: You're goddamn right.

@inevpatoria: a remaster? How could you play a remaster? What a grand and intoxicating innocence.

@brian_: yes it is bad, arrest this man

Wow, I don't know how to begin unpacking this...

It's a smart move on Microsoft's part, but I don't feel all too great about it. I was fairly happy with what Bethesda was doing. T'was just a few months ago that Prey hit GOG and I was getting all jazzed about that.

😞

@jamesbomb: What's wrong? Far as I can tell, anyone MS has been taking in is told "you do you, and your games go on gamepass." And MS has always had a good relationship with Bethesda. Xbox was the first console to play an elder scrolls game after all.

@liquiddragon: I mean... am I wrong in remembering that game being fine? I mean, it wasn't a great game. It was certainly a stupid game. But it wasn't Rogue Warrior bad... Am I crazy?

@brian_: not bad but surprising. Bethesda has a deep catalog in many different genres. Shocking no other title really grabbed you.

@deathstriker: They'll do timed exclusives. Otherwise they're leaving money on the table. But that time could be a year long. And are people going to wait another year for the new elder scrolls?

Good timing for MS considering pre orders for xbox go up tomorrow....

@liquiddragon: I’m really curious what Scalebound would have been. From all the snippets of info it seemed kind of ahead of its time as some weird 4 person coop game with loot.

I just hope I can pre-order a Series S tomorrow.

@noobsauce: We'll see, no one outside of MS knows right now. From a business standpoint, the games not going exclusive seems silly. "Leaving money on the table" could be said for Spider-Man or any other exclusive.

Holy crap this is big. I guess this shows how confident Microsoft is in the success of Game Pass. I feel like Game Pass could really blow up this generation the way Netflix did with regards to movies.

@humanity: yeah, actually that would’ve been a cool game that would’ve fit right into the game pass model

Whoa. This is big.

I think Bethesda will keep putting out cross-platform games, especially ones actively in development right now, but what this does is increase Xbox exclusivity options in the future. Moreso, for this holiday season, many people will see the smartest purchase being the Series S/X because they will be scared of exclusivity with the next Fallout/Elder Scrolls. On top of Game Pass I'd say Xbox's holiday sales just went from a close second place to a healthy first.

Maybe Sony will try to meet this halfway with a functional Playstation Store? With... sales on games on par with Steam's sales? No? Yeah I didn't actually have hopes for that, but I can dream.

edit: My ongoing big time dream is that the PSVR2 is near release and it's leaps and bounds better, and will be packaged with consoles for cheap... but yes this won't happen I know.