Monday, September 21st 2020
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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.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.
93 Comments on Microsoft Announces Acquisition of Bethesda Parent Company ZeniMax Media
My brother has picked up a couple of games on EGS and he said he'd rather use EGS over Steam because it doesn't crash or stutter or video goes to black screens when jumping around on the store or switching to his library.
Anyone that has issues with the new Steam UI and still uses steam....why they do it, that's beyond me. Those that have no issues with the new UI, good for you, I hope you keep having no issues and you enjoy your game library.
As for MS - years ago they had a knack for gaming and did it right. Maybe something will eventually click with them again and they'll start doing things right? I don't think it can be any worth than Bethesda and how they screwed the pooch with their latest Fallout games.
Really though... mixed AF on this one. But at this point I'm not sure how much there could really be to lose. It's been a gradual tectonic shift with Bethesda for years anyway. The monolith was cracking... if not financially, then definitely with the quality of their games. Worse things could happen. Being under Microsoft's banyan tree might actually help them. Beth/Zeni never had problems making money, but nobody was ever happy with how they did it... generally because it tended to be at the expense of player experience. Working under Microsoft opens them up to other financial opportunities that may enable them to forego some of their old ways and focus a little more on the games.
Honestly, if they wanna seal this deal for people, get em together with Obsidian for a proper NV2. People will be in the streets chanting for Microsoft :p That's actually kind of an interesting scenario, though. Lets be real here... Bethesda's vision for Fallout is at this point far removed from the core of what Fallout originally was. They've been slowly gutting it for years. I've been saying for a while that they might as well call them something different - make them a different thing and leave the Fallout name to somebody who wants to make a bonafide Fallout title. There is a studio out there who's probably up to that task. Obsidian could do it. An under the new agreements, all 3 parties could benefit.
People get jumpy about Microsoft buying up studios. I get it. But I'm not going there yet. For now, I'm neutral. FO4 was kind of the last straw for me. And then 76 came and burnt that straw. I wasn't interested in buying another Bethesda game before. That hasn't changed now. Good, new Bethesda titles are the only thing changing that. And I didn't have much faith in that sans-Microsoft. I've always assumed it was Zeni. 76 especially smells like them. Scotch and fast women.
Though it's kind of a little of both. Maybe that's what you meant. Considering Zenimax is child that became the parent. I always got the sense that they created a monster there. I suspect that that a lot of the bad choices made by Bethesda have been on behalf of Zenimax. And the ole Todd has to get up there and lie to people about what their vision is and how they've attained it. Bethesda used to be all about putting in the love and perfecting whatever they most leaned for. This resulted in games that lacked polish in some areas, but had a lot of depth when it came to the stuff they felt defined their games. Oblivion went down as one of the best of all time. The only thing I see that could've changed that was who they had to answer to, and how big they got. It's sort of the EA effect. When you work under EA, you do things EA's way and the creative aspect suffers. And every release from every franchise winds up having that same vibe. Zeni's been looking to that model for a long time.
In America, it's green and is exchanged for goods and services.
Why would you sell it?
Did it finish and nobody told the rest of us?
If anything gaming became more popular due to Covid as people stayed home, this also means people in I.T. related fields worked from home so the Game industry increased profitability.
Rare has objectively suffered from the purchase by Microsoft. As was yours. The only issue here is that my opinion is based on objective merit. Yours is based on feelings.
There's no scientific equation to measure legacy and if they're still performing according to it. What other game from a different developer that came out in the last console generation would you consider being on par with "Rare legacy"?
You're making the typical "x" bought "y", now "y" is dead argument we see on the internet pretty much every time a company is acquired. Companies change over time, people leave, people come, release different games. Not everything may be related to an aquisition. You can cherry pick examples to "prove" that microsoft aquired studios are doing bad.
Phil Spensor repeatedly reconfirmed the creative freedom of first party studios. Rare is still taking risks and experimenting like they did with 3D sprites during the SNES era, coming up with innovative games and creating new genres. Moon Studios was bought before they created a single game, and gave them time to polish both Ori and the blind forest, and Ori and the will of the wisps to near perfection. Asobo is now punching way above their weight with the release of Flight Simulator 2020.
But yeah, I'll buy your version of legacy vs time graph of the studios before and after Microsoft's acquisition. My favorite equation in physics is Drake's equation.
Now, would you two like to present an argument of logic and merit to substantiate your perspective? Or are you going to continue with the less than subtle nonsense?