Microsoft bought Zenimax/Bethesda

[MindFreak]

3 hours ago, Ganepark32 said:

If anything, I'm just happy the likes of Arkane will be able to keep doing the work they're doing as I'm a huge Dan of their games.

 

This is really interesting. I would never have thought that anyone would or could buy Bethesda, they were doing really well on their own. 

I guess Microsoft doesn't really view Switch as a direct competitor and thus will continue to publish (some of their) games on Switch. Really hope that at least. And give us some Dishonored!

[Aperson]

Who knows? Maybe this is Microsoft's intent to become the Disney of video games by buying up all major franchises in gaming. Maybe they're getting buddy with Nintendo in an attempt to buy them out :|

[Julius]

16 minutes ago, Aperson said:

Who knows? Maybe this is Microsoft's intent to become the Disney of video games by buying up all major franchises in gaming. Maybe they're getting buddy with Nintendo in an attempt to buy them out :|

Would it then be time for a forum/site rebrand? X Europe? Or we end up with the Europe Series X, Series N, the NX...  

[Julius]

CNET interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer pretty much spells out they aren't done with the acquisitions just yet. Emphases mine, mostly to highlight some things and because we get a bit more of an idea as to how they'll be handling things. 

Quote

Microsoft may be known as a business software giant, powering most of the world's PCs and building backroom technology and tools. But it's also spent more than $10 billion buying development studios behind some of the most popular video games in the world. To Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, it's all about the future of software.

Though not known as a gamer himself, Nadella's made big bets on the video game industry, buying Minecraft maker Mojang for $2.5 billion shortly after he was named CEO in 2014. Then he bought five more studios in 2018, including role-playing game maker Obsidian, known for the space adventure The Outer Worlds and the well-received South Park: The Stick of Truth. In 2019, it bought Double Fine, maker of adventure game Psychonauts.

What's driven him is a belief that interactive entertainment will be a key technology in the next 10 years and that gamers who use Microsoft products expect the company to make titles like those made by the studios he's bought.

"You can't wake up one day and say, 'Let me build a game studio,'" Nadella said in an interview after the company announced its $7.5 billion cash purchase of ZeniMax Media, which owns several industry-leading game developers, including Bethesda Softworks and Id Software. "The idea of having content is so we can reach larger communities."

That's why Microsoft will consider buying even more video game companies in the future, he said, and why it continues to invest in its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

"Content is just the incredible ingredient to our platform that we continue to invest in," Xbox head Phil Spencer said in that same interview. "This doubles the size of our creative organization."

Gamers will see a noticeable difference with Bethesda, Spencer said in the interview Monday, noting that the company's games will be offered on Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service the same time they hit store shelves. They'll also be available through Microsoft's xCloud video game streaming service, which allows people to play games over the internet similar to the way they stream movies from Netflix.

"This is a huge investment in games that they're going to get to play," he said.

Spencer also said Bethesda will run semi-independently, in an effort to keep the company building the games that brought it success in the first place. "It is about the culture of those teams," he said. "They're not about becoming us."

It's also why game companies will continue to be on Microsoft's radar. "We'll always look for places where there is that commonality of purpose, mission and culture," Nadella said, noting that the Xbox team has worked with ZeniMax companies including Bethesda since the first Xbox was released in 2001. "We will always look to grow inorganically where it makes sense."

Not sure why, but the use of "inorganically" in this context seems so...gross. A lot of whispers going around from people who were on the ball with Final Fantasy XVI (though that wasn't too much of a surprise by itself), as well as some other things, which seems to be leading to the conclusion that Microsoft are looking to acquire two more studios. Favourites at the moment are looking like DontNod (Life is Strange) and Asobo (A Plague Tale: Innocence, and more recently Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020). 

Another two studios would take Microsoft up to a staggering total of 25 first party studios. Crazy. 

[drahkon]

Microsoft seems to push for a monopoly.

Sad times.

[Julius]

35 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Microsoft seems to push for a monopoly.

Sad times.

I think my biggest concern with this acquisition compared to others is that I just can't see the necessity for it from the outside, other than Microsoft having deep enough pockets. I wonder if they would've gone through with this if Zenimax/Bethesda were publicly traded? I'd bet not, because that seems too much of a hassle. 

I was not a fan in the slightest of what happened with Spider-Man coming to Avengers as PlayStation exclusive, because it feels less like exclusive content made for PlayStation and more content blocked from making its way over to Xbox.

This could *potentially* be that with an entire publisher. This is Disney buying FOX, and theatres, and saying "pay up." It's a good business move, but not a good direction for games. 

Though, based on Microsoft's history this shouldn't be something to be too concerned about (until they flip that switch), as they're just interested in selling software and want platforms for doing so, it seems...wrong, almost. Again, "inorganically" being the word used could not be more accurate; it feels like they've ripped up a plot of the industry they had no real interest in and just threw it on the Game Pass pile of developers they've got growing. 

Before someone throws anything back my way over not wanting Xbox to do well, I think their previous acquisitions were fair and smaller acquisitions, and many of them made sense. It showed Xbox were going all out, but were willing to give things time to grow. 

This feels like them saying to hell with that and wanting to steamroll the competition, which I'm not all for. People will point at Insomniac being bought by PlayStation, or the potential for Bluepoint to be picked up by them, but as I said yesterday - that's already where their games were. People will say "but XVI is a timed exclusive! Moneyhatting!", and I will say...go look up how Xbox sells in Japan, and how well games like Final Fantasy sell on Xbox. Like it or not, those deals make sense, if nothing else because that's where the bulk of the audience is playing those games, if not a case where that's the place where the developer is releasing their games. 

Xbox has exclusivity deals for Yakuza 7 on next gen and I guarantee that that game still sells more on PS4 than it is played on Game Pass - it's deals like that which feel dirty to me (never mind the fact that SEGA Europe's cooperation with PlayStation is what turned the franchise and SEGA's recent fortunes around in the west, but anyways). Again, "inorganically" would be the word to use here too, because it is such an unnatural fit. 

I'm not saying PlayStation can do no wrong and that Xbox can do no right, but to the point of some others here asking what PlayStation need to do in response, saying they need to buy someone as soon as they can and react accordingly, I have to ask: is picking up the dying husk of Konami just for rights to their beloved IP's, to actually bring them back into the fold, really anywhere near as bad as this? And if not, then why on earth aren't Microsoft going there?

It makes you wonder, because they could have bought Konami with ease (publicly traded I know, more hoops, but I'm talking more the money side of things), build PES into a worthwhile FIFA competitor, and throw EA out to die in 2022 when they pay up and get the official licensing for revised PES in their stead.

And then there's Metal Gear.

And Castlevania.

And Silent Hill.

How many PlayStation owners wouldn't buy an Xbox at that point? I know I would. I think the industry would be all the better for a returning Konami, and if Xbox did that, I'd be happy. 

I think picking up Konami and then forming a team around them after an overhaul to their core structure would have been the killer (and likely much cheaper) move, so it makes me wonder why they wouldn't go in that direction. Hey, maybe it's in the works, but it  more makes me think the worst: that Konami isn't an active developer (right now, at least, because they seem to have be showing signs that some things are cooking) so they aren't exactly a threat or worth picking up.

It's certainly not sending a message like Bethesda is. 

And seriously, what can PlayStation do? If laws against monopolisation weren't a thing, Microsoft would have bought Sony ten times over at this point, without even flinching. And Nintendo. If they had the choice, they would absolutely buy out the industry, and there wouldn't be any competition. 

It's a scary thought. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

@Julius you have a way of writing down exactly what I want to say

[Nicktendo]

Devil’s advocate, but these big publishers going to Microsoft or Sony rather than Amazon, Google or China is better. 

It’s not ideal, granted, but it could be much, much worse. 

I expect more acquisitions to come over the next few months. Just the way gaming is heading, unfortunately. In 5-10 years, it’s likely going to be the same as choosing a streaming service is now, which exclusives do you want more? As gaming moves to a service based economy, having powerful, exclusive IP is going to be the biggest factor in making profit.  

Konami, Sega and maybe even Ubisoft will probably be the next big ones to fall. Indies are gradually going to be scooped up as timed or permanent exclusives. 

Ideally, companies will play ball and make their games available in more places for greater access, but we’ll have to see how it plays out. I can definitely see each console manufacturer having a “service” with exclusive games - their own GamePass.

However, all this probably works in Nintendo’s favour, which I’m not going to complain about  Their IP is unmatched, as we’ve seen from the astonishing sales of Switch games that the other two manufacturers can’t even dream of achieving with their respective first party games.