Spencer added that there will be more news on how Xbox’s teams will work later this year, but promises that more Bethesda games will be added to the Xbox Game Pass later this week (no details have been released on the games yet).
Bethesda’s Pete Hines wrote in a spearhead blog post that ‘we are not making any major announcements or changes at this time,’ but added that ‘we will work to put even more of our games into Game Pass than ever before. ‘
Spencer did make a key point, pointing out some speculations about whether Bethesda games will be exclusively on Xbox: “With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PCs 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 gamers. “Spencer reiterated that Microsoft will allow Bethesda to continue to ‘make games as usual’, and it’s worth noting that neither Xbox nor Bethesda mention Xbox Game Studios in their release releases. This may indicate that Bethesda operates under a different umbrella than Microsoft’s other first-party studios. To help drive this new acquisition, Xbox has apparently launched a new company called Vault – it could be the new brand for Bethesda games manufactured under Xbox.
Late last week, the European Commission paved the way for the acquisition of Xbox from ZeniMax, which removed a major obstacle to the massive purchase. The US SEC also approved the acquisition.
With the purchase, Xbox acquired the following ZeniMax developers:
- Alpha Dog Games
- Arkane Studios (including offices in Lyon, France and Austin, Texas)
- Bethesda Softworks (including Bethesda Game Studios in Maryland, Bethesda Game Studios Austin, Bethesda Game Studios Dallas, and Bethesda Game Studios Montreal)
- ID software (including offices in Richardson, Texas and Frankfurt, Germany)
- MachineGames
- Roundhouse Studios
- Tango Gameworks
- ZeniMax Online Studios
Xbox was still not too simple with its plans for developers like Bethesda and id when it announced plans to acquire ZeniMax in 2020. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in an interview that he does not even plan on the future of studios like Bethesda. the acquisition is complete.
So while Xbox did not announce plans for console exclusivity, Xbox CFO Tim CFO said games from Bethesda and other ZeniMax studios would at least be ‘first or better or best’ on Xbox platforms.
There are many ways in which Xbox can place ZeniMax games on different first-party channels, whether it is through the Xbox Game Pass subscription service on the console and computer or the xCloud streaming service. Both options that Spencer previously discussed about the ZeniMax acquisition.
Xbox’s curious acquisition of ZeniMax has sent shockwaves across the industry, boosting Xbox’s first-party series, and seemingly deterring even competitors like Google Stadiums.
With the acquisition now official, it’s time to see what Xbox is exactly planning for ZeniMax and games from studios like Bethesda, which is currently developing titles like Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6.