Microsoft buys Bethesda for $7.5bn

Wow , Didn't see that coming !

Smart move from Microsoft as they get id Software and the id Tech game engine plus the talented Arkane Studios team .... they also get The Elder Scrolls 6 exclusivity.

Given what Bethesda has become over the years I support the move in the hope it will concentrate Bethesda's mind toward making greate games again not just great piles of money.

Pete Hynes, senior vice president at Bethesda Softworks, said the deal offered "access to resources that will make us a better publisher and developer"

Legendary games developer John Carmack - who pioneered some of the technologies behind the original Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake games - has also suggested the acquisition could bring him back to some of those franchises
www.bbc.co.uk...

Dear M$
Sack Todd Howard.

Yours Sincerely
gortex.

PS
ES 6 ...Please.

Poor investment. Bethesda's games have been underwhelming for years. They've been milking Skyrim for all it's worth. Fallout 76 was a steaming pile. I think Bethesda cares more about money than actually producing quality games. Their glitchy as Hell and they let modders fix their bugs. They're running the same trash game engine that they have for decades.

I'm not sure how to feel about this.

I still play Skyrim. And all Elder Scrolls have been so good.

Bethesda needed to make money I guess, and I don't think Microsoft will make them better.

Prediction: say goodbye to free mods.

Well, I feel like we’ve got a 50/50 chance MS will either continue the current course of progressively worse games until the elder scrolls and fallout franchises are beaten into the ground, or MS has seen the diminishing numbers and sees the franchises can still be saved and very profitable if they are allowed to make great games again and not just push out half finished and “remastered” shadows of great games.

Skyrim 2 please.

I am concerned Microsoft will screw up all the franchises. They might even make them Xbox exclusives. I shudder to think.

originally posted by: PorteurDeMort
Poor investment. Bethesda's games have been underwhelming for years. They've been milking Skyrim for all it's worth. Fallout 76 was a steaming pile. I think Bethesda cares more about money than actually producing quality games. Their glitchy as Hell and they let modders fix their bugs. They're running the same trash game engine that they have for decades.

Man, I played Doom (from 2016) a few years ago and it was easily one of the best games I've ever played. Sold my console before Eternal came out so I don't know how it fared.

a reply to: Metallicus

They might even make them Xbox exclusives. I shudder to think.

No doubt they will but they'll also be available on PC because Microsoft , it's PS5 owners who will feel the pain.

a reply to: gortex

I'm still bitter about the way Microsoft #ed us early alpha build backers of Minecraft after they bought it up and used the C++ Bedrock edition to be able to back out of the terms of the original. purchase and suddenly, my free updates as long as the game exists became, buy every new version for every platform and we'll drop active support for that one version that actually runs on your platform.

But, Bethesda's games have been garbage for a while now, it's questionable if they've ever really been all that great so i'm kind of ambivalent towards this.

I just can't help picture somebody at Microsoft just being so stoked on Fallout 76 they just had to own it. 'Like come on guys, it's awesome trust me, we totally need to buy Bethesda right now...# it just buy all of ZeniMax, we need this #.'

a reply to: gortex

"the deal offered "access to resources that will make us a better publisher and developer"

for 7.5 Billion pounds...

ha ha. Need that much?

I still play Oblivion. Sometimes I play Skyrim. I thought Beth was still knee deep in ES6, but I quit keeping track of its progress. I wonder what Microsoft is going to do about it.

So, how does this screw up ESO? Because that game is trash! Beth owns ESO and Zenimax maintains it, right?

a reply to: 4003fireglo

So, how does this screw up ESO? Because that game is trash! Beth owns ESO and Zenimax maintains it, right?

I never went near ESO but Microsoft have bought Zenimax lock stock and barrel , I'd imagine this doesn't change much for gamers other than , hopefully , better games , XBox exclusives will need to be big hitters if they're to claw back some of Sony's market share.

Microsoft/X-Box:
"Look at all our exclusives!! And their all exclusive until their not.
So, Sony... do you have any exclusives?"

Sony:
(Thinks) WTF!!!

12 months later there are no exclusives.

Yes as a Sony fan, xbox wins overall due to gamepass. From what i understand their putting brand new games on it and treating it like Netflix, for $15 a month.

Still buying PS5 though.

Man, I miss the old days. You bought games on a floppy, CD-Rom or even DVD's and they were yours for life. None of this subscription stuff or licenses like on Steam. Let's hope GOG stays in business. DRM free and your personal offline copy. Sadly, I fear places like GOG will not be able to grow their offering if the bigger dogs keep buying up the big dogs like this!

R.I.P. Bethesda.
The Dhovakiin and Lone Survivor shall live for eternity..

If it brings Carmack back to id that'd be amazing.

a reply to: gortex

Announcing it the day before preorders started was a great move in my opinion. I heard a Sony fan complaining that now they’re going to have to buy an Xbox now. So a win in my book.

Bethesda has been horrible for quite awhile - and not just in their legendarily endearing bug filled way. I posted this elsewhere but repeat it here... Fallout 76 seemed less like a game with a built in store, to me, than it did a store with a half-baked game slapped onto it.

That said, the Microsoft purchase gives me hope as this is a rabbit hole I've been down for awhile and my personal opinion is that Zenimax, for several years, has been doing some shady, behind the scenes things to move money and extract as much as they possibly could from their collected developers ( especially Bethesda ). I think that Todd Howard got a bit envious of Bob Altman and Bob dangled the "Just do what I tell you and you'll be a billionaire too!" carrot in front of him - changing Todd's motivations from having a passion for developing into having a passion for profits.

In any case and personal theories aside, Zenimax has very obviously been trying to manipulate margins and control costs to entice investors for several years. Rumors are that this deal has been in the negotiation stage for at least two years.

Microsoft has deep, deep pockets and their gaming division is more of a customer relations / vanity affair than anything they actually consider a money maker. Their real money comes from Enterprise solutions ( read charging corporations for Windows and tech support ). Hopefully this fact will lead to Phil Spencer telling Todd Howard to expand Bethesda to include several more teams ( so they'll work on more than ONE game every 5-10 years ), and to get with Obsidian to get work started on a New Vegas sequel ASAP.

In short, maybe now Elder Scrolls 6 will actually release during my anticipated, statistical lifetime.

A man can dream.

a reply to: Skyfox81

The $15 a month is for Game Pass Ultimate which includes Game Pass on both the console and PC ( each has some different titles and some crossover ) and Xcloud - which allows streaming to other devices like phones, low powered laptops and tablets.