Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda: A boon or a bane?

The recent acquisition of ZeniMax, Bethesda’s parent company, is perhaps the biggest move played by Microsoft in a long time. It means that Microsoft is, in essence, the owner of franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Dishonored, and many more!

“Bethesda’s games have always had a special place on Xbox and in the hearts of millions of gamers around the world. Our teams have a close and storied history working together, from the amazing first DOOM, and its id Tech engine, innovating games on PCs to Bethesda bringing their first console game to the original Xbox, the groundbreaking The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
Over the years I’ve had many deep conversations with the creative leaders at Bethesda on the future of gaming and we’ve long shared similar visions for the opportunities for creators and their games to reach more players in more ways.”
Philip Spencer, Vice-President, Microsoft

Microsoft now owns Fallout, DOOM and everything else from Bethesda — DOOM Eternal

Following is the list of studios that Microsoft has acquired through this acquisition:

Alpha Dog Games (mobile games)
Arkane Studios (Dishonored)
Arkane Studios Austin
Bethesda Game Studios (Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4)
Bethesda Game Studios Austin (Fallout 76)
Bethesda Game Studios Dallas
Bethesda Game Studios Montreal
Bethesda Softworks
id Software (Doom, Doom Eternal)
MachineGames (modern Wolfenstein series)
Roundhouse Studios (Rune 2)
Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokyo)
ZeniMax Online Studios (The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76)

Regardless, the biggest question that must be coming to many people’s minds is, “Well, what about the other consoles?”

That is certainly difficult to answer, as some of the games have already been announced for Sony, Microsoft, Android, and iOS.

But whether or not the unannounced and much-anticipated games such as The Elder Scrolls 6, the next Fallout, or the third entry in DOOM, will come to other consoles, that is still in the realms of the unknown.

“this acquisition is about more than one system or one screen.”
Todd Howard , Bethesda director

That said, it may be quite possible that Bethesda’s games will launch on other consoles as well, perhaps with a slight delay. One thing is for sure, they will certainly arrive first on the Game Pass.