Why Microsoft dared to buy Bethesda and why Bethesda would sell

Almost everyone knows by now that Microsoft has acquired Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax. This article will answer: why did Microsoft acquire Bethesda and ZeniMax?

Everyone knows that Microsoft sells everything from consoles, personal computers, operating systems, and even software services. People will generally buy these Microsoft products if their favorite games can only be played on the platforms mentioned above. Some games are available on many different platforms, but they are best optimized for Windows PC and Xbox.

Bethesda has created many of the most famous franchises in the video game history, including The Elder Scrools, Fallout, and Doom. If Microsoft wants to own dozens of famous names in one transaction, they have found the perfect publisher.

WHY IS BETHESDA SELLING TO MICROSOFT?

It is not clear why Bethesda agreed to sell. Everyone will have to wait for news from the members of the decision committee. However, we can know information about the status of Bethesda and their parent company: ZeniMax.

ZeniMax’s board may seem odd at the moment, as its members include entertainment lawyer Michael Dominguez, retired baseball star Cal Ripken Jr. and film director Jerry Bruckheimer. They are all older and have their own investments and businesses outside of games. However, that is not the reason for them to agree to sell to Mircosoft, because there are many companies run by elderly people and they themselves are not really interested in the game industry.

Here’s what’s worrying: the ZeniMax board also includes former CBS president Les Moonves, who stepped down from that position in 2018 following multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. And Robert Trump was also on the board, until his death last August.

Along with that, the results of recently released games are also not very positive. Bethesda’s major titles have struggled in the current console generation, which began in 2016 with the sales slump of Dishonored 2.

In 2017, the company delayed several times before releasing Prey, along with The Evil Within 2, and sadly neither of these games were commercially successful. The online version of the Fallout series is Fallout 76, which has been out since 2018 and is still trying to find a foothold after nearly two years of existence. The publisher is tight-lipped about its game sales so it’s hard to tell if Rage 2, Wolfenstein 2 or Wolfenstein: Youngblood will succeed, but the sales numbers that have been made public are not very promising. .

Although sometimes Bethesda also achieves success like Doom Eternal just released this year. Sometimes games will be ported to other platforms as well as have VR versions, perhaps mentioning the 9-year-old name: Skyrim. The big games being teased like Starfield and the new Elder Scrolls game have yet to have a release date and many rumors suggest that we will have to wait many more years for the game to be completed.

IS MICROSOFT SUITABLE FOR BETHESDA?

Since 2018, Microsoft has acquired many game developers. These studios mainly focus on small game projects, not AAA. Let’s assume that Microsoft is trying to develop a variety of titles, encouraging users to continue to pay Xbox Game Pass fees to enjoy new games.

In addition to acquired studios, Microsoft’s mainstream games are carefully invested and less expensive than rival Sony’s. It can be compared between recent Gears of War games, Halo Infinite with The Last of Us Part 2 or God of War 2018 projects.

The article does not think that Microsoft as a publisher will spend a lot of money on super big names. They are a large company and have quite a bit of experience in the gaming industry, so this new business is completely trustworthy.

Bethesda has a history of liking big bets on expensive games, then collecting money when the games hit the mark on all platforms. Finally, selling remasters, remakes and VR spinoffs.

It’s hard to believe that Microsoft will recover money from games like Starfield or the next Elder Scrolls if they make them exclusive to Xbox. As is known, Microsoft is also not interested in Xbox exclusive games. Just in September, Microsoft released a game they developed on the Nintendo Switch. They’re rolling it out to Xbox Game Pass on PC, and gamers can play it using the xCloud game streaming service, which allows paid users to play a variety of “Xbox” games on Google’s Android devices. Over the past year, Xbox has morphed from a console into a major brand name.

As a result, Microsoft is certainly in a better position to acquire Bethesda. They have a wider distribution network, increasing the reach of the game to the mass gamer community. In other words: Small and mid-sized studios have been the ideal audience for Microsoft to take over in the last few years as it nears the end of the Xbox One era. With Microsoft’s services being ramped up and expanded recently, they probably already have the tools to finance and distribute Bethesda games at their current scale.

BETHESDA GAMES STILL APPEARING ON PS5?

With that said, Microsoft needs to find a way to balance the budget spent on Bethesda. This means that Bethesda games will still be available on PlayStation 5. But if Microsoft wants to find huge success with xCloud and Game Pass on PC, chances are PS5 will no longer be a priority for Microsoft (Nintendo Switch will be). a serious competitor to the PlayStation 5 if they develop strong enough hardware).

Until then, Bethesda still had exclusive releases with Sony such as Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo. Surely fans will be interested in these two games, and perhaps when “Elders Scrolls” or “Fallout” is revealed, Microsoft will be interested in monopolizing a platform.

The most recent game from studio Arkane (also the developer of Deathloop) sold 2.5 million copies as of 2018. For comparison, The Elder Scrools 5: Skyrim sold more than 30 million copies.

GAME EXCLUSION HAS A DIFFERENT EFFECT ON THE GAMING INDUSTRY?

The article believes that the more games are released on the platforms, the better for both gamers in particular and the game industry in general. Competition between systems will produce creativity and bring the best quality to users. Not to mention, monopoly also unintentionally creates a toxic culture in the console community.

In this case, we wonder if Microsoft saved Bethesda’s life? Looking back at Bethesda’s unsuccessful game release journey over the past 5 years, it will probably be many more years before Bethesda releases its next hit product. Remember, we are in the midst of a pandemic and this will set the stage for a financial crisis.

If Google were serious about Stadia, it would have bought ZeniMax (or other large publishers) by now.

Microsoft already had a large collection of studios, is the market leader in AAA subscriptions and cloud game subscribers. Playing to win while Google dabbles in a $130B biz

— Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew) September 21, 2020

During global economic crises, industries often merge and the gaming industry is no exception.

One last thing is that when we talk about names that are strong enough to acquire Bethesda, many people will think of names like Google, Amazon and Apple, which are actively promoting their position in the gaming industry. But remember, the only traditional game company with the capital and facilities to understand how the gaming industry SHOULD operate right now is Microsoft.

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