The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the purchase of Microsoft Bethesda, which will bring the publisher and all of its studios into the Xbox family. It was one of the last remaining barriers to acquisition that was eventually closed, but Bethesda is not yet part of Xbox.
The SEC published a “notice of effectiveness” for the transaction on its website this week. If you are not familiar with SEC filings, it does not seem like much at first glance, but this notice is used when the SEC accepts a company’s registration. The ‘S-4’ on the page means that it is related to a merger or an acquisition, and if you go to the related documents for this notice, Microsoft’s registration fee is listed as $ 7.5 billion. This is the amount agreed upon during the agreement last year.
The SEC’s approval actually comes as we expected to hear from the European Commission, the other major regulatory body that would put an end to this agreement. There would be a ruling by March 5, although apparently not yet made public, on the assumption that the verdict had not been delayed. If we accept that it has been approved, it should not be too long before we see the companies officially working together.
However, this does not mean that PlayStation fans will immediately stay in the dust. The upcoming game Deathloop will actually launch as an exclusive PlayStation console, as the deal was signed before the acquisition of Microsoft, and Microsoft honors it. It will take at least a year before the game hits Xbox or other platforms. Future games are more in the air, though it would certainly make sense for big franchises like The Elder Scrolls and Doom to become Microsoft-exclusive to attract more players.
