550°

Microsoft Plans To Merge ZeniMax Into A New Subsidiary Called 'Vault'

An EU Law document has revealed that Microsoft plans to merge ZeniMax into a new subsidiary called Vault.

rlow11172d ago

Does that translate to, "Vault of Money"???

Godmars2901172d ago

More like "pit of money" if the best they do from now on is Fallout 76.

MadLad1172d ago

Guess you forgot about every single release they made since Morrowind in 2002. Not to mention all of the other award winning devs they got in the acquisition.

King_Noctis1171d ago Show
demonseye1171d ago Show
Godmars2901171d ago Show
King_Noctis1171d ago Show
demonseye1171d ago Show
Atom6661171d ago

As well as Fallout 76 sold, it kind of was a pit (empty game) full of money.

But you can't ignore the revenue their big two generate. Before Cyberpunk, I believe Fallout 4 generated the most $$$ at launch than any game this gen. ESO actually has really high sub numbers. And games like Doom continue to do well.

Also, Days Gone did hit with a lot of bugs. It's why its score is way lower than it should be. Doesn't compare to a ES or Fallout, but let's not act like everyone is perfect except for those top few Sony titles.

Not sure how MS has a rep for bugs though? Online launch issues? Well that's been true of everyone (Sony included).

Godmars2901171d ago Show
S2Killinit1171d ago (Edited 1171d ago )

I think its a fitting name for cannabilizing the industry by buying multiplatform developers, making them exclusive to one console, then putting their games behind the paywall.

Vault, yep, that’s pretty much accurate.

Atom6661171d ago Show
+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 1171d ago
1171d ago
Orchard1172d ago

"puts the future of Bethesda releases on PS5 still largely up in the air"

Realistically, why would anyone genuinely believe Microsoft spent 7.5bn on this to release the games on PlayStation? The value is clearly in exclusivity.

Nyxus1172d ago

Because they can make more money that way. Same as they're doing with Minecraft. Not saying it's a guarantee, but it's not impossible either.

Sonyslave31172d ago

Dude xbox making money good money and plus ms already made enough cash to buy zenimax twice lol they dont need playstation or nintendo.

Nyxus1172d ago (Edited 1172d ago )

They may not need it but they want money right? Also, if they don't need the other platforms, why is Minecraft multiplatform?

Then there's also this: https://arstechnica.com/gam...

gamer78041172d ago (Edited 1172d ago )

Minecraft was pre existing, I highly doubt new Bethesda games will come to PlayStation, maybe ESO will stay like Minecraft did

Tedakin1172d ago

Sony can "make more money" if they put their games on PC and Xbox too. Sony only supports Sony. Xbox supports Xbox, Windows and Steam, and even android with gamepass. Their reach is over 80% of the gaming market.

LucasRuinedChildhood1172d ago (Edited 1172d ago )

@Nyxus

You provided a good link. Bethesda's games being multiplatform would be the most ideal outcome, and their language indicates something close to this unless they're just all lying to make the acquisition easier to approve.

Microsoft's ultimate goal is for GamePass to be the Netflix of gaming and you need enough studios to create regular content for a service like that. That's the main reason they're buying Bethesda (loads of good studios and varied IPs, lots of good content). That's a vision that the higher ups were able to get behind, and that's why the Xbox division was given so much more money for this investment than the division currently justifies (they publicly stated in the past that Xbox was not a core MS business). Everything else is secondary unless it hinders GamesPass.

Bethesda's games all coming to GamePass and having their games be full price and/or come later on PlayStation incentivizes people to subscribe to GamePass and opt for an Xbox while allowing MS to make large profits from other audiences. It seems like a good predicament for MS.

porkChop1172d ago

MS, Sony, and Nintendo could all make more money by releasing their games on rival platforms. That doesn't mean anything.

The Bethesda buyout was unprecedented. It was a power move, a major play. You don't spend that kind of money just to keep the games multiplatform, because that doesn't bolster your own platforms in any way.

Notellin1172d ago (Edited 1172d ago )

They make more money by luring people into the ecosystem. PC and Xbox will bring plenty of sales.

Why wouldn't Nintendo and Sony release their games on other platforms if it was all about games sold?

majiebeast1171d ago Show
DOMination-1171d ago

I always read this comment about making more money if it is released on competing consoles but if that was the case, why don't Microsoft and Sony make all their games multiplatform? I don't think it's this simplistic.

I don't know the answer, but I would speculate that there is great value in keeping products exclusive to your ecosystem. By the time any Bethesda games are released, the margin in the hardware sales should be there to make up some of the lost sales in software - and for the stubborn few who refuse to buy Xbox at any cost but will play on PC - many of them will end up subscribing to gamepass in some form to play it.

Zeref1171d ago

Well they would make more money if Halo was on PS5 as well.
Why is God of War not on Xbox? They'd make more money as well.

🤦🏾‍♂️

wiz71911171d ago

I mean Minecraft was already multi platform before Microsoft purchased Mojang. It would of been a disaster if they removed Minecraft from other consoles it was already on.

RazzerRedux1171d ago

"Minecraft was pre existing, "

Minecraft Dungeons wasn't.

343_Guilty_Spark1171d ago

The same argument could be used for all exclusives.

RazzerRedux1171d ago

"The same argument could be used for all exclusives."

Not all exclusives started out trying to justify a $7.5 billion price tag.

+ Show (11) more repliesLast reply 1171d ago
Destiny10801172d ago

losing 70% of your sales is not good for any company

but if there's one company that could do it, its microsoft

gamer78041172d ago

If they put the games day one in Xbox gamespass then It would be worth it for MS to get people to come to Xbox and subscribe to gamespass

Neonridr1172d ago

the company won't care because they aren't funding development anymore.

Orchard1172d ago

Microsoft just made two Bethesda’s in profit in 3 months. I don’t think they’re worried about cutting other platforms.

CJQNSNYC1171d ago (Edited 1171d ago )

70%? You think Xbox and PC only account for 30% of Bethesda's sales? I think you've grossly underestimated how popular Bethesda's games are on Steam and Xbox.

Tedakin1171d ago

They release their games on Steam and Windows. MS's reach is over 80% of the gaming market. So more like 18%, but it will drive people to play on Xbox or PC, so they'll make up a lot of that.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 1171d ago
Sonyslave31172d ago

I know right it going to be 99% xbox/pc smh. The only games i can see coming to switch or ps5 is the mmo's.

Darkborn1172d ago

Yeah, Microsoft did, not Xbox. Xbox is basically a money pit.

Sonyslave31172d ago

No actually xbox is making good money did you read ms report xbox is making profits.

Here im going to let matty and a hardcore ps fan explain

Yongera
https://m.youtube.com/watch...

MrMattyPlays
https://m.youtube.com/watch...

Darkborn1172d ago (Edited 1172d ago )

So they made over the amount they just spent on zenimax? That would be profit. And I mean Xbox, not Microsoft that makes billions all the time.

AngelicIceDiamond1172d ago

That's why Phil used MS and not Xbox division. MS spent 7.5b and made back 15b back.

Darkborn1172d ago

Exactly, it's a money pit. I remember investors of Microsoft were wondering a few years ago where their return was with Xbox. They probably barely made their investment in mojang, and all the other recent studios back and now they go and spend way more before they get a return. The guys in suits might get pissed pretty soon unless they they get paid.

Orchard1172d ago (Edited 1172d ago )

@Darkborn irrelevant really. Xbox is profitable but Sony also make money from non-PlayStation products, just not as much as Microsoft overall.

So yes, Microsoft are a more successful corporation than Sony and can therefore afford things like Bethesda.

No one cares how Xbox or PlayStation are doing - they care how Microsoft and Sony are doing. You can’t buy Xbox or PlayStation stocks.

As for the “guys in suits getting annoyed”... I doubt they’re annoyed. Microsoft is now one of the most valuable companies, over 15x that of Sony and is trending towards 2 trillion dollars value.

waverider1171d ago

Thats what they dont understand. Microsoft did. The Gaming division is another thing.

Darkborn1171d ago (Edited 1171d ago )

The thing you guys don't seem to understand is everytime the investors get reports, it's almost always negative for Xbox. Eventually they might just shut it down. Look at Google stadia. Google could go buy Sony and Microsoft right now in one day and they just shut down stadia gaming studios. Also, look at Amazon. Another huge company that could buy basically a bunch of huge publishers and it wouldn't even be what they pay in taxes (or don't). They are shutting down games and probably going quietly into the night.

Orchard1171d ago (Edited 1171d ago )

@Darkborn Almost always negative? Please link one. I went through earnings reports for the last two years and didn’t find any negative Xbox ones.

Also Google could go buy Microsoft? What? Microsoft are valued higher than Google right now - over 400bn higher.

Fanboys have claimed MS will kill Xbox for multiple generations now and yet here we are with new consoles and Microsoft investing more dollars in gaming than ever, and far more than Sony too. Maybe Sony will shut PlayStation down!?

Darkborn1171d ago

Well this was last year. A report saying earnings went down is not positive. I will say it does say that the expansion of game pass is helping Microsoft out though and it's true. Offering free games for a cheap subscription is a good thing for consumers but a bad thing for productivity.

https://www.siliconrepublic...

Orchard1170d ago

Right... so it made less money one of the last 8 quarters. But was still profitable. I’m sure investors would be fine with that - they would only care if it was in the red/negative.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 1170d ago
Fluttershy771172d ago

Exclusives are great, but at the time Minecraft wouldn't have changed by itself the destiny of Xbox One... the game became super popular because it launched in every single platform... it's an all platform friendly game.
Look at the best fighting game of the last decade Killer Instinct... A master piece that is... dead, a commercial failure (the people that made that game were forced to vanish, they are working in Amazon Games or something. I think KI would have been way more popular if it launched on Playstation too, even the switch.
Also there are two ways of having exclusives:
1) Developing and taking risks with unknown IPs (it could be great or could be a failure)
2) Bulling your way around with money

LucasRuinedChildhood1172d ago (Edited 1172d ago )

Exclusivity to boost console sales is definitely not the reason this purchase was approved. The numbers don't add up.

The PS4 was the most profitable console in gaming history ( https://www.gamesradar.com/... ) and the PS division still doesn't have the money to buy Bethesda. The PS division itself made $1.6 billion in profit in 2018, for example. Even if MS somehow won the console war with 100 million Xbox consoles sold, ***this $7.5 billion acquisition would eat beyond an entire console generation worth of profits by itself***.

They did it because want high subscription numbers for GamePass (they want it to be the Netflix of gaming and to get a foothold), and they need studios to make content for the service. Their Bethesda games being full price on PlayStation and potentially first on Xbox would work out very well for them.

PapaBop1171d ago

Not sure what the most updated statistics are but I can give you over 114m (PS4 consoles sold) reasons why

waverider1171d ago

Hundreds of millions on PS consoles where all sell much more then on xbox consoles, because their marketshare is much much bigger.

moomoo3191171d ago

They will strategically lock certain exclusives to xbox or gamepass, but definitely not every bethesda game they release.

JL29301171d ago

Because Sony need all the games they can get, they only produce interactive movies.

S2Killinit1171d ago

MS is pretending that these developers may release on other consoles to prevent any possible backlash they may receive for cannibalizing the industry. Then they will also be able to announce the exclusivity as a “surprise” for the shock effect. You can mark my words here. The games will be MS exclusives. This is how MS behaves. Always has.

+ Show (9) more repliesLast reply 1170d ago
BrainSyphoned1172d ago

Because it will just be a vault of games from when Bethesda was worth something.

Sitdown1172d ago

Come on, you can do better than that.

BrainSyphoned1172d ago (Edited 1172d ago )

My thoughts exactly on the name. I'm sure someone tried to 76 it but was told "it just works"

King_Noctis1171d ago (Edited 1171d ago )

Didn’t Bethesda literally published Doom Eternal last year? Are you saying Doom Eternal worth nothing?

Tedakin1171d ago

Doom Eternal was a Bethesda game, and one of the best games of the last several years.

Vizigoth041172d ago

Nothing hardly ever comes out of a vault anyway so that’s cool.

fitofficial1172d ago

TES VI: Minecraft Edition Day One Starter Pack

phoenixwing1172d ago

Wouldn't surprise me with how blocky the other elder scrolls have been

Show all comments (84)
100°

Outriders Dev's Next Game Has Been Canceled After Publishing Agreement With Take-Two Fell Through

Outriders developer People Can Fly's next game has been canceled after its publishing agreement with Take-Two Interactive fell through.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
Tacoboto1d 11h ago

"the capital group of PCF Group S.A."

If you're getting funding from a group that needs two different ways of Acronyming itself, things will not go the way you want them to.

banger881d 5h ago

If it was more online-only crap then good riddance.

jjb198115h ago

Outriders was crap. They slapped that game together and threw in a loot system to get players' attention. This game was absolutely jank and the always online nonsense made it stutter like crazy. People Can't Optimize.

thorstein14h ago

I liked Outriders but I could see where the artistic vision was compromised. The way the industry is now, it wouldn't surprise me that upper management would scrap something that didn't pull in money via gaas, mts, or other means.

290°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv721d 8h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle19h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188117h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio16h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning7711h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga19h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

darthv725h ago

to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.

neutralgamer199224m ago

Darth

30% physical sales: yet Phil and xbox division are in a rush go give up on that 30%. they don't have any right to give up any piece of the pie since the control such a little of the pie to begin with

also, the market is clearly speaking that the model Xbox is pushing isn't working right now the keyword being right now. you are right about freedom to play anywhere so i hope they put their games on steam

shinoff218318h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga17h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan13h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

S2Killinit5h ago

MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.

romulus2312h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv7211h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

TheEroica5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.

Chevalier30m ago

@Darth

You should stop parroting metrics like an idiot without context.

"Xbox content and services revenue grew 62% in Q3 from a year earlier, “driven by 61 points of net impact” from the purchase of the third-party video game giant, Microsoft said."

61 of the 62% was from their merger so net increase is ONLY 1%

https://www.mesaonline.org/...

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 24m ago
purple10121h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos21h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-11h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac20h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad20h ago(Edited 20h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10120h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic18h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead11h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 11h ago
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90°

An Update on This Year’s BlizzCon and Blizzard’s 2024 Live Events

Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."

Read Full Story >>
blizzcon.com
PRIMORDUS1d 6h ago

How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.