Monday, September 21st 2020
Microsoft Announces Acquisition of Bethesda Parent Company ZeniMax Media
Microsoft today dropped a giant bomb on the balance of game development: the company announced the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks, and all its related IP. The purchase, which is expected to close for a tidy $7.5 billion, will carry over all ZeniMax Media subsidiaries. This includes Bethesda (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout), id Software (DOOM), Arkane Studios (Prey, Dishonored, upcoming Deathloop), MachineGames (Wolfenstein), among others.
The deal is the costliest acquisition for Microsoft (to date) in its push to increase the number of in-house development studios (up to 23 from 15 prior to this deal). Microsoft has announced that as part of the deal, games published by ZeniMax Media and subsidiaries (and in the future, by Microsoft) will be available on its Xbox Games Pass subscription service for Xbox and PC gaming. Microsoft is acquiring some of the most iconic gaming franchises ever with this deal, including all in-development IP. It's a huge boon for the company; it remains to be seen exactly how will this evolve over the years. But one thing is for certain: Microsoft isn't slowing down on its doubling down on game development.
Microsoft expects the deal to close in the second half of its fiscal year 2021, which ends June 30, and to have "minimal" impact on its adjusted operating income for the current and next fiscal years. There are expected to be no shakeups in company leadership from this transition.
Source:
Microsoft
The deal is the costliest acquisition for Microsoft (to date) in its push to increase the number of in-house development studios (up to 23 from 15 prior to this deal). Microsoft has announced that as part of the deal, games published by ZeniMax Media and subsidiaries (and in the future, by Microsoft) will be available on its Xbox Games Pass subscription service for Xbox and PC gaming. Microsoft is acquiring some of the most iconic gaming franchises ever with this deal, including all in-development IP. It's a huge boon for the company; it remains to be seen exactly how will this evolve over the years. But one thing is for certain: Microsoft isn't slowing down on its doubling down on game development.
93 Comments on Microsoft Announces Acquisition of Bethesda Parent Company ZeniMax Media
www.techpowerup.com/248405/microsoft-reportedly-on-the-verge-of-acquiring-obsidian-entertainment
I hope Microsoft won't make them switch to DirectX12 which will make things worse for the consumer.
I also hope they will rework/rewrite the Bethesda launcher because it just sucks. It doesn't suck as much as the Epic Games Launcher, which is just atrocious, but it's nowhere near Steam in terms of performance.
They should fire all developers atleast, they have no clue how to work with the creation engine, this has been proven since Skyrim.
Hire the modding community who manages to fix all the bugs.
Let's hope that this will ensure the next Fallout or Elder Scrolls game isn't a janky cash-grab.Creation Engine should be thrown in a pit, and that pit should have a couple dozen Fallout nukes lobbed into it. That janky POS lived far longer than it should, they should've rewritten it for Fallout 4 already but Todd Howard likes money too much.
Microsoft needs first party games to bolster their games via subscription service that they and others, i.e., Apple are pushing.
It aren't the devs at fault, it's the publishers and management who allow such buggy products to roll out. If anything Microsoft should force better quality control upon the Bethesda Games studio.
No engine cannot be refactored in such a way that it's both more modern and stable, and still provides the tools which the devs have spend years learning to master.
So is this the rumoured BIG bucks Microsoft were spending on something secret?.
Microsoft are far from the best people to take over zenimax, but Facebook were predictably awful and it's hard to imagine Microsoft being worse.
It puts Sony in a bind though.
Anytime one company is bought / sold, that makes the company horrible going forward by your thoughts?
- So, I guess when Zenimax purchased id, id was no longer good anymore? A bunch of legacy IPs that weren't getting funded, turned in to full-fledged modern-day triple A titles.
- The Bethesda digital store is so well operational because they are "filthy stinking rich".
- The Fallout franchise was steaming along so well with Interplay.
The list could go on... Sure, the shareholders made money on their sell. Do you think they would want to devalue the sell? Companies are bought and sold constantly in the United States. Somehow the wine reviewer video game consumers hold the purchases to some anti gaming sentiment.Hoepfully Microsoft can find a way to breath new life into The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series since the last few entries have been rather lackluster.....might as well throw Wolfenstein in there as well.
This got sold ?
Microsoft you just lost your money.
Zenimax Media owns not only Bethesda (Elder Scrolls, Fallout), but also id Software (Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake). Almost the entirety of their list of published games comes from companies that Zenimax Media owns. (ex: Machine Games is a studio under Zenimax Media)