Welcoming the Talented Teams and Beloved Game Franchises of Bethesda to Xbox

by Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox • Sep 21, 2020 @ 6:00am

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Critically acclaimed creators of The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Quake, Starfield and more join Team Xbox

Today is a special day, as we welcome some of the most accomplished studios in the games industry to Xbox. We are thrilled to announce Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks.



As one of the largest, most critically acclaimed, privately held game developers and publishers in the world, Bethesda is an incredibly talented group of 2,300 people worldwide who make up some of the most accomplished creative studios in our industry across Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios. These are the teams responsible for franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Prey, Quake, Starfield 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.



Just as they took the bold first steps to bring The Elder Scrolls franchise to the original Xbox, Bethesda were early supporters of Xbox Game Pass, bringing their games to new audiences across devices and have been actively investing in new gaming technology like cloud streaming of games. We will be adding Bethesda’s iconic franchises to Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. One of the things that has me most excited is seeing the roadmap with Bethesda’s future games, some announced and many unannounced, to Xbox console and PC including Starfield, the highly anticipated, new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios.



Like us, Bethesda are passionate believers in building a diverse array of creative experiences, in exploring new game franchises, and in telling stories in bold ways. All of their great work will of course continue and grow and we look forward to empowering them with the resources and support of Microsoft to scale their creative visions to more players in new ways for you.



All of our work, and the foundation of our relationship with you, starts with a commitment to deliver a breadth of amazing games to discover and play on Xbox. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been excited to share more detail on important elements of a plan we’ve been building towards for years. A plan that is the fulfilment of a promise, to you the Xbox player, to deliver the most performant, immersive and compatible next-generation gaming experiences, and the freedom to play blockbuster games with your friends, anytime, anywhere. Today is a landmark step in our journey together and I’m incredibly energized by what this step means for Xbox.



Please join me in welcoming all of our friends at Bethesda to Team Xbox.

Industry shaking news right there. Holy shit.

MS 1st party just got an amazing boost with ID and Arkane in particular and then Bethesda? I wonder if they go the Minecraft route with the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games and make those multi-platform. They are both big enough to warrant it. 

Edit: Now that I think about it, Gamepass makes releasing Elder Scrolls and Fallout or any other title they think is big enough on PS5 an obvious business choice. If you want to play on console, you can get it on Gamepass on Xbox, or pay the $60-$70 on PS. Either way MS gets paid. 

Brilliant play to do this 1 day before preorders for their new system. Phil Spencer is smug as hell but he is smart and savvy and has every right to be proud of his product each conference. He is revolutionizing the industry.

Todd Howard is a hired gun for Microsoft conferences I presume. Fallout being a MS staple is huge.

Sept 21, 2020 13:11:25 GMT cig said:

Welcoming the Talented Teams and Beloved Game Franchises of Bethesda to Xbox

by Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox • Sep 21, 2020 @ 6:00am

Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Click to share via Email.

Critically acclaimed creators of The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Quake, Starfield and more join Team Xbox

Today is a special day, as we welcome some of the most accomplished studios in the games industry to Xbox. We are thrilled to announce Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks.



As one of the largest, most critically acclaimed, privately held game developers and publishers in the world, Bethesda is an incredibly talented group of 2,300 people worldwide who make up some of the most accomplished creative studios in our industry across Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios. These are the teams responsible for franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Prey, Quake, Starfield 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.



Just as they took the bold first steps to bring The Elder Scrolls franchise to the original Xbox, Bethesda were early supporters of Xbox Game Pass, bringing their games to new audiences across devices and have been actively investing in new gaming technology like cloud streaming of games. We will be adding Bethesda’s iconic franchises to Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. One of the things that has me most excited is seeing the roadmap with Bethesda’s future games, some announced and many unannounced, to Xbox console and PC including Starfield, the highly anticipated, new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios.



Like us, Bethesda are passionate believers in building a diverse array of creative experiences, in exploring new game franchises, and in telling stories in bold ways. All of their great work will of course continue and grow and we look forward to empowering them with the resources and support of Microsoft to scale their creative visions to more players in new ways for you.



All of our work, and the foundation of our relationship with you, starts with a commitment to deliver a breadth of amazing games to discover and play on Xbox. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been excited to share more detail on important elements of a plan we’ve been building towards for years. A plan that is the fulfilment of a promise, to you the Xbox player, to deliver the most performant, immersive and compatible next-generation gaming experiences, and the freedom to play blockbuster games with your friends, anytime, anywhere. Today is a landmark step in our journey together and I’m incredibly energized by what this step means for Xbox.



Please join me in welcoming all of our friends at Bethesda to Team Xbox.

Industry shaking news right there. Holy shit.

MS 1st party just got an amazing boost with ID and Arkane in particular and then Bethesda? I wonder if they go the Minecraft route with the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games and make those multi-platform. They are both big enough to warrant it. 

Edit: Now that I think about it, Gamepass makes releasing Elder Scrolls and Fallout or any other title they think is big enough on PS5 an obvious business choice. If you want to play on console, you can get it on Gamepass on Xbox, or pay the $60-$70 on PS. Either way MS gets paid. 

Sony has marketing rights for Deathloop & Ghostwire, wondering what happens now. Doubt PS5 gets timed exclusive unless that was paid before hand. Great grab for Microsoft either way, Phil Spencer is using the money from Microsoft to make the savvy moves.

Just a matter if they can get some Japanese created IPs. Was hoping they'd make a grab for Konami's dead library, there is a library I want to see flourish again. Silent Hill/Castlevania/Suikoden/Contra etc.

Sept 21, 2020 13:32:11 GMT Blindy said:

Brilliant play to do this 1 day before preorders for their new system. Phil Spencer is smug as hell but he is smart and savvy and has every right to be proud of his product each conference. He is revolutionizing the industry.

Todd Howard is a hired gun for Microsoft conferences I presume. Fallout being a MS staple is huge.

This is literally up there for the most insane bit of gaming news ever. Brilliant is the perfect way of describing this, it's blowing up on Twitter and Twitch already, right before preorders go live tomorrow. Between everything Gamepass was already doing, EA bringing their service to Gamepass, and now this...man. The push to make Gamepass the "Netflix of Gaming" has some real credibility to it.

Some fun tidbits.

-MS paid the 7.5 billion in cash.
-MS is now putting out timed console exclusives on PS5.
-They jump from 15 to 23 1st party studios.

Buying Ninja Theory or Double Fine is one thing, this is a different ballgame. Outside of very few titles Bethesda doesn't really interest me as a gamer but no doubt they have a massive appeal. I would say Tango Studios and Arkane are the ones that interest me with the Doom series always warranting my eye. Never been an Elder Scrolls or Fallout gamer per say.

RIP Bethesda press conferences though. I know they were hit and miss but to lose one of the few third party E3 press conferences all about ensures E3 is dying an unofficial death. Unless Bethesda is still allowed to do their own press conferences under Microsoft?

If this makes all future games Xbox exclusive that's a huge deal as I always felt like that aspect of the console was sorely lacking compared to the competition. Doesn't affect me since I've never really been interested in Bethesda.

Sure is one way to get the spotlight after the PS5 craze.

So many people that play the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series are going to panic buy Xbox now. I don't think they need to yet, but it's going to happen.

Also their online subscription just became the best fucking thing out there, which I think is the main reason for this move. PS Now can't even compete anymore. Sony needs to do something if they want to stay in the subscription game. They need to become the Hulu to Microsoft's Netflix. But I don't even know how they do that.

Fortunately this doesn't really effect me. I never got into any of these games. I played Skyrim but I got bored of it pretty quickly. I don't know why I didn't like it. I wanted to, I just didn't. I've never played any of the Fallout games. I don't have the time to play multiple open world games at once. I pick one for the year then that's it. I'm more of an FPS guy anyway.

Still, this is massive. Microsoft not going quietly into the night, that's for sure.