4 Things Microsoft Buying Bethesda Means for Gamers

Microsoft has just acquired Zenimax Media for a whopping $7.5 billion. Zenimax Media is the parent company of Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane Studios, id Software, Tango Gameworks and many more.

While acquisitions aren’t anything new, especially for Microsoft in recent years, one of this size isn’t something you see very often. But what does this all mean for gamers? Well, we’ve compiled a small number of possible changes this may mean for players going forward.

Bethesda Games on Xbox Game Pass & Game Pass for PC

One of the most obvious things that Microsoft’s acquisition means for players are the appearance of Zenimax’s developers’ games showing up on Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass for PC.

That means we could see Fallout 76, DOOM Eternal, The Evil Within 2, Elder Scrolls Online (and possibly its expansions) and a whole lot more making their way to Xbox Game Pass in the coming days.

It also means, as we noted in the announcement of today’s acquisition, that future Bethesda titles will be joining the Game Pass libraries on their release date.

Let’s just take a minute to take that in. The Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield could be coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one, as part of your monthly subscription. If you subscribe already to Xbox Game Pass, or plan to eventually do so, then the news today is just objectively great.

Play Your Bethesda Games via xCloud

Ever wanted to play Skyrim on the go? No, no we’re not talking about the low-res Nintendo Switch port. We’re talking the real deal. High resolution textures, stunning lighting and shading details, and most importantly, using that excellent Xbox One controller for exploring the wilderness and hunting down dragons.

Well, with this acquisition and Zenimax Media’s titles likely to become part of the Game Pass library, that dream will become reality. With xCloud officially out of beta this month, any Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can now start playing any game from the library on-the-go.

All you need to do is pair your controller to your phone via Bluetooth and you’re all good to go. If that doesn’t have you excited, let me remind you that Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 should be coming to Game Pass on release date, too.

Yes. I, too, am ready to explore the vast expanses of space from the comfort of my toilet thanks to xCloud.

Investing in Innovative & Exciting Ideas

Let’s be real here. $7.5 billion is a huge amount of money. While that money has obviously got to cover all manner of different costs, expenses and other fees, it’s worth pointing out that there’s likely still going to be a fair amount of money left over.

I’d wager that some of that capital will end up being invested into Zenimax Media and its respective subsidiaries.

If that’s the case, that means money spent on new and exciting technologies, including game engines that could completely shake-up the way we look at certain genres. It could also mean more developers being brought into the Zenimax Media family, or improved stability for its online games like Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76.

The bottom line here is that all that money is (hopefully) going to lead to more polished and exciting future releases from Bethesda.

Exclusive Games

Let’s address the big elephant in the room right now. No, The Elder Scrolls VI isn’t going to now be exclusive to the Xbox Series X/S. It could be, but no one knows.

Right now there’s no definitive stance on that issue. Microsoft is saying that it will be a case by case basis for whether they will release games on other platforms such as the PS5 and Switch.

One could argue that releasing arguably your biggest potentially exclusive titles onto a competitors platforms might be counterintuitive, but consider the following. Think about the amount of copies The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has sold to date. Over 30 million in 2016. That’s a lot of money, and a lot of copies sold across a variety of platforms.

Locking PlayStation players off could possibly lead to lower sales and if that’s the case, it could mean less money for Microsoft. It is far more complicated than that since there are plenty of other factors to consider, but the point is that there’s no clear and obvious answer right now which is probably why Microsoft is keeping things kind of vague for the time being.

Another possibility to consider is timed-exclusives as opposed to outright exclusivity. What if Starfield, for example, had six-months timed exclusivity to Xbox? Do you want to be playing it six months after people have likely played and beaten the game and talked about it online? If you have a choice of course you don’t, and $309.98 will solve that problem. Not to mention Xbox All Access making that even more affordable as monthly payments.

That’s not to say Xbox won’t snag some outright exclusives in this process. New IP from the various developers under the Zenimax Media umbrella could become Xbox exclusives, not to mention the general preferential treatment that these developers’ games will now offer Xbox players in terms of additional content and freebies.

What Microsoft is probably more pumped about than exclusivity is being able to boost the attractiveness of Xbox Game pass. Playing first on Game Pass is a huge draw. Combined with the relatively cheap up-front cost of the Xbox Series S and you’ve got a pretty enticing entry price point to an ever-improving library of games to play on your shiny, next-gen system.

Are you planning on pre-ordering one of the Xbox Series consoles? Let us know down in the comments below.