Xbox's Acquisition Of Bethesda Was Years In The Making

The Xbox/Bethesda merger was apparently years in the making, according to Xbox head Phil Spencer.

[Neonridr]

I'd laugh if someone thought this was something that happened overnight.

[NeoGamer232]

Ya, Phil Spencer woke up one morning and said, "Gee, I wonder if Bethesda would be open to a $7bln buyout?". By that afternoon it was done and the next day they announced it. /s

That's not how things work in business. And I wouldn't doubt games like Ghostwire and Death Loop exclusivity for PS5 was a negotiation tactic. Same with the rumors on Starfield going PS exclusive.

[badz149]

they are so busy plotting to buy Zenimax, they forgot to make games of their own. make sense

[Sitdown]

Yeah, because all of their employees had to focus there attention on the purchase. Makes so much sense now.

[sho0ok360]

Bro, they had 4 first party studious at the time they started the discussions.

Do you expect from them to make a game each year or what?

Let's just be happy they're doing something at least now.

[brewin]

You think these teams can just make up new stuff overnight?! Lol, you must not understand game development even a little it. They have had teams working on stuff for years. You think theyre just going to throw out games every month then youre clearly more thick headed than your comment lets on. They have tons of stuff in the pipeline, many that are coming out between now and the end of the year. They still have stuff they havent announced, and they have several studios working on stuff that has been in development for years. They have some pretty great devs in-houe we havent heard from in a while. Whats Ninja Theory working on? How about InExile and Obsidian? Playground has had Fable in dev for years. The stuff is coming. You must not have suffered through the PS3 era Im guessing. You think Sony just brought it from day 1? They had a lot of missteps in the past that led to the late gen ps4 era. Xbox Series X will be right there in the next year or 2. 3rd parties have been holding it down pretty good on Series X this last year, but if you have never owned or even played one how would you know?! What a sad fanboy rant.

[badz149]

they started their studio shopping spree in 2018 and yet NONE of those studios are ready with a launch game for November 2020? did they forget to make games? out of those first acquired, only Playground is bringing something this year in FH5. others? crickets...

[Zhipp]

@bads
Double Fine is releasing Psychonauts this year. Wasteland 3 was last year. Outer Worlds was released after obsidian's acquisition, as well as Grounded.

A lot of their studios released/are releasing games, it's just that, with the timing of their purchases, they were not able to be exclusive.

[Notellin]

Another dumb take from another dumb fanboy.

[iplay1up2]

Elder Scrolls, Doom, Quake, The Evil Within, Fall Out, Dishonored, Wolfenstien, Rage, Prey, and Starfield. That is a big deal. I was surprised the acquisition happened at all.

[TricksterArrow]

The Evil Within is "meh". Sadly, Mikami held it down. When he left and John Johanas took over for The Evil Within 2, the game actually stepped up quite a bit. Too bad most people wrote it off by then. Here's hoping Johanas can helm TEW3 and keep up the good work.

[iplay1up2]

I liked Evil Within, 2 was definitely better though.

[fsfsxii]

lmao the guy consistently made classics, and his only blunder was a game published by a shitty publisher on a shitty engine. sounds like Bethesda held him down.
the evil within 2 was a terrible sequel that effectively killed the series, and it wasn't even original, it recycled a LOT from the original game

[TricksterArrow]

Nah. He is always trying to chase RE4’s shadow since he left Capcom. He is definitely his own worst enemy. TEW2 managed to get better reviews and actually gave TEW2 some kind of identity and a much better and relatable plot.

[DeathTouch]

Thanks! Been saying this guy is a hack for years now. The Evil Within was marketed as "the Resident Evil killer", "from the mind that created RE", "the next big thing in Survival Horror" and it's average at best.

@fsfsxii Other than Resident Evil, what other classics did he make? Dino Crisis, maybe? But many would argue that DC was a carbon copy of Resident Evil, and only managed to find it's identity with Dino Crisis 2, with another director. Kinda like The Evil Within. PN03 was a disaster, God Hand is divisive as hell, Vanquish is hella fun, but hardly considered a "classic" in the same vein as Resident Evil and Dino Crisis are. He is great at a supporting capacity, as a director he is entirely hit or miss. His peak was Resident Evil 4, and he will probably never peak again. He is the poor man's Kojima, or maybe Nomura (yikes!).

[neomahi]

Whores. People will do anything, for the right price.

[Michiel1989]

makes sense, companies of that size and impact in the industry dont get taken over from one day to another. I actually never imagined bethesda being bought out at all. Now lets hope good things come from it.

[Lore]

Was this a PR article to bridge the narrative that Playstation builds relationships over years? So Xbox needs to make it clear that they do as well

[MadLad]

Why is everything always this giant conspiracy theory that articles are being bought on here?

You just admitted that there's been articles on here about Sony cultivating studios over time. I'm just going to assume they're all paid PR ads for the company.

See how easy it is to just spread a baseless statement based on bias and pure insinuation, though lack any actual evidence?

[John_McClane]

I like to think of Microsoft as the Borg and I can hardly wait until they assimilate Sony and bring them into the collective!

[Locutus_of_borg]

"I like to think of Microsoft as the Borg and I can hardly wait until they assimilate Sony and bring them into the collective!"

Resistance is Futile...

[TheColbertinator]

Sony fanboys : You can't do that

Microsoft : Buying studio power goes Brrrr

[Zeref]

Lol they said this from the announcement as well. Yes they happened to be pretty tight with Microsoft. But in the end they're a business. Hence Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo.

Nobody cares about "building relationships before acquiring", That's something PS fanboys tell themselves to cope.

as long as they're making good games who cares?

[brewin]

Isnt it sad the petty little arguments these people try to come up with to start more arguments? Its like they dont have all these awesome games to play that were built using these "relationships" the'yre always talking about.

[Notellin]

No loser. That's the narrative you tell yourself at night to justify your purchase.

[Jericho1337]

No, it was a quote from Phil. Next?

[jznrpg]

I don’t believe anything Phil says -

[itsmebryan]

@jznrpg
Ok, are you saying starfield and Redfall are coming to PS5?

[Darkborn]

It's kind of weird then how Phil Spencer before he got his boss to lend him money for zenimax, said he didn't want to alienate gamers on other platforms, and exclusives, if any at all, would be on a case by case basis. Or did you forget about that? Furthermore, Todd Howard said he would be able to self publish after the acquisition and said he doesn't see anything changing. The day they were acquired, all of this was the exact opposite. Both of them together have 16x the lies it seems.

Im pretty sure good guy Phil said all those nice things to get the approval to buy zenimax with Microsofts money, or he really does lie all the time like I know he does.

[hadowajp]

@darkborn Xbox doesn’t have any exclusives tho… if you have a phone, pc, television (down the road) you can play all of these games????

[Michiel1989]

@darkborn lend money? and do you really think phil was the only one that had a say in the aqcuisition? also bethesda still has a publishing departement, so there you go. Also if they are making the same type of games then everything stays kind of the same besides being on ps consoles.

lets now start disecting playstation statements: for the players! 70 dollar games, locking out fornite account if you have only logged once into it on a playstation system, timed exclusive games, time exlusive dlc, exclusive dlc. That sure is for the players right?

You can either: a: start realizing pr talk is pr talk and not everything is 100% true. do you also believe redbull gives you wings?
or b: continue hammering on what "good guy phil" said and be in this continues loop of shittalking everything ms does while making yourself look like a salty fool.

[itsmebryan]

@darkborn
Why should he care about Playstation owners? Everyone one but, them can play on Xbox, PC, and mobile.
No one is stopping you from buying an Xbox. They even a Xbox series x and gamepass combo for @$ 37 (with tax) month for 24 months. Gamepass is great 👍.

[lelo2play]

Likely Phil doesn't believe in anything you say... so everything's good.

[Notellin]

Phil cares so much about the fanboy "jznrpg" on N4G. Glad you let him know. He'll surely lose sleep over it.

[the_dark_one]

Hummmm, it could be true, but then if thats the case why is Deathloop a ps5 timed exclusive? makes no sense at all, but ok.

[SeTTriP]

Fallout 76 happened.

[TriniOutsider]

Maybe, the Deathloop time exclusivity with Sony. Happened before they made the news official. Things like the do to happen, just saying.

[got_dam]

That deal was in place before the acquisition.

[MrBeatdown]

That's the point. Why is Bethesda signing exclusivity deals with Sony if they were seriously considering an aquisition by Microsoft?

[Notellin]

@MrBeatdown It's pretty clear you don't understand business if you can't come to your own conclusion on why Bethesda made these moves.

[MrBeatdown]

@Notellin

Thanks for absolutely no explanation, oh Enlightened One!

[Tacoboto]

Legal and corporate things happen because money. Talks are talks and nothing more until the ink hits the paper. Sony wanted a couple pieces of the pie; that's a lot easier to get done than wanting the whole bakery and all its other locations.

[alb1899]

Maybe it was a way to make MS move faster to make the deal... remember, next could have been Starfield.

[Notellin]

It's really simple. They signed a deal before the aquisition was finalized. Is it really this hard to use your critical thinking skills or do you need the rest of the adults to do it for you?

[codycoop2132]

yes years in the making yet we have to games Deathloop and Ghost wire coming exclusively for the ps5.
and very poor communication on just if Bethesda games would be exclusive to box going forward
This is a fluff piece to make it look like M$ doesn't just rush with acquisitions.

[itsmebryan]

Deathloop and Ghostwire are limited exclusives. Also, why would Bethesda stop doing business before the Acquisition went through?

They had nothing to lose by agreeing to the timed exclusive with Sony. Actually it may having made the deal better. Just think, if the deal went through Microsoft would make money off of PS5 owners. That's a market they would never reach. Microsoft get Sony's exclusive money and PS5 owners money. How is that bad?

[mkis007]

Just think, if the deal went through Microsoft would make money off of PS5 owners.

Um if thats such a good deal, they still have that option...

[codycoop2132]

I agree with that for the most part. Still don’t think it was years in the making just my opinion. Large acquisition can take place in a short amount of time. Not alway ways but can. Just think it’s odd this article comes out after Sony states how they acquire studios and then bam a rebut from M$ weird timing. This could of surfaces months ago

[itsmebryan]

@ cody
Sony says it not in an arms race with Microsoft and buys 2 studios. I think it take longer to agree to a $ 7.5 billion dollar deal.

[derek]

Nope. There is no way Deathloop and GWT are exclusives for Sony if the deal to purchase was imminent or years in the making. Microsoft are liars who are spending copious amounts of money on this online guerilla marketing campaign they are running against Sony. This article is a direct response to Sony's stated method of nurturing and acquiring studios.

[itsmebryan]

@derek
Where is your proof? Why wouldn't MS not want PS5 owners money ? It's just the cherry on top.

[Fishy Fingers]

Even after its been agreed I cant imagine the amount of legal red tape they had to go through.

[Futureshark]

Jeez, is Phil Spencer STILL banging on about this.
Yes Phil, well done, you bought Bethesda with Pappy Satya's chequebook.

Change the record mate.

[wiz7191]

I mean based on how many ppl are mad Microsoft bought in the first place , and ppl saying they only bought them to keep exclusives away from PS lol so obviously he had to come out to make the statement. PS only gamers been bitching since it happened

[Ausbo]

He was asked a question on a podcast. What do you want him to say? No comment people don’t want to hear it.

Come on man. You know how it works. People appear in podcasts and articles are made for every statement made.

[Notellin]

People ask questions and he answers them. Sorry you aren't important enough people care for your feedback.

[Futureshark]

"Sorry you aren't important enough people care for your feedback."

Apart from yourself and the other 2 who replied you mean. Plus the 35 who agreed or disagreed.

Oh dear, you've embarrassed yourself.

[Bender6502]

Years in the making! Years in the making he says. $7.5 BILLION for a games company. I mean, seven and a half.. Nah, I'll never get my head around this acquisition. Some of the greatest advances in science and technology haven't come close to costing that much. And this, for a games company. Okay, whatever.

[wiz7191]

I mean ZENIMAX was worth a estimated $5.7B before the acquisition and MS had a total asset of $301B … $7.5B quick frankly isn’t a lost to them.

[edeprez]

Even if you're rich, a loss is still a loss. Plus MS will be giving all these games away with game pass. Maybe there's some maths I can't comprehend, but giving all your new and old games away for $10 a month (much less for many people, even $1 a month for lapsed or new subs) just doesn't seem like a great business plan.

[Notellin]

@edeprez It's pretty clear you don't understand math or business so you might as well just quit providing analysis at all.

[Locutus_of_borg]

“ Maybe there's some maths I can't comprehend, but giving all your new and old games away for $10 a month (much less for many people, even $1 a month for lapsed or new subs) just doesn't seem like a great business plan.”

If you said there was 30 million subscribers, half pay 10 a month and half pay 1 a month that’s still 165 million a month .. doesn’t sound like a bad business plan to me

[Bender6502]

Of course you're correct. I'm not suggesting Zenimax wasn't valued at that, or that it's not a good purchase from a business perspective. I mean I'll benefit as an Xbox/PC owner. it's just with the knowledge of our world as it is I just find it difficult to accept this much money being spend on a video games company. I'm old enough to know the world will unlikely ever be as it should be - fair an equitable, but seeing such an obvious example of excess makes me pause, that's all. Move on....

To some responses I say, put your game-pad down and watch the news now and again.

[wiz7191]

Acquisition in the size don’t happen overnight and do take years to finalize lol what you think they just walk up with a deal and its closed ?? Quick frankly Zenimax was losing money , behind closed doors they was looking to be sold. Can’t be mad at Microsoft for having the money Sony nor Nintendo doesn’t.

[anast]

I can't wait to see what Starfield is going to look like. I wonder if they can get their RPG magic back.

[talocaca]

Probably around the time when the PS3 started delivering generation defining exclusives and they realized they just couldn't compete with Kinect games made by Rare.

[AmUnRa]

And then came the Xbox One...and they still didn't realized it......

[Hawk198666]

Bethesda is garbage

[edeprez]

Nah. There's talent there. Fallout has completely sh1t the bed, but there's good teams there. Arkane is phenomenal, but sadly I don't know what's going on with Redfall. It looks like awful fee-to-play garbage to recover the losses of giving the game away on game pass.

[Notellin]

You don't know anything at all about RedFall other than you can't play it because you're a corporate tool.

You've made some of the dumbest fanboy straw man arguments the world may ever lay eyes upon.

But you're still just a nobody.

[neomahi]

So were their gripes and complaints to the MLB to manipulate them into taking what wasnt theirs from a competing development team. What if Sony played the same game and took Gears of War or Halo? That was a cheap move and a cheap shot. Sony doesnt owe Microsoft anything. That was jealousy, envy, and manipulation, thats prison rules. It didnt play out as consumers thought, Microsoft couldnt do it on their own so they whined and cried like a little girl.

[jBlakeeper]

As a PS5 gamer it’s kind of nice that the studios Sony acquires are always studios they’ve worked with for several years. Not just going out of their way to purchase a company that publishes a huge amount of ip’s for exclusivity. Kind of shoddy if you ask me. Microsoft paid 7.5 billion for Bethesda and it really shows how desperate they were for sales and exclusives. Haha

[Elda]

I don't know if that's true. If this is true why would they have made Deathloop & Ghostwire a timed exclusive for the PS5.

[ziggurcat]

Because those deals might have been set/signed before MS and Bethesda began negotiating.

[Zhipp]

"Years" could just mean two or three. Those exclusive deals could have been set before negotiations reached a tipping point.

Could even be that those deals were a negotiating tactic by Bethesda to squeeze more money out of MS for all we know.

[glennhkboy]

A lot of reports file to mention: Trump family was the major share-holder of Zenimax, the company that MS actually bought (Bethesda was just the subsidiary company of Zenimax group). So a large part of the $7.8b paid from MS actually goes to the Trump family.

[derek]

Microsoft are pathetic, responding to every thing Sony says and does. There was no reason for them to buy zenimax but to keep their games off playstation consoles. Xbox is a dying brand so like a parasite they are attempting to live off the brand name of Bethesda.

[Master of Unlocking]

I'd be rather curious to know how those 7,5B$ were distributed among all those employees. My bet is the higher-ups at Zenimax & Bethesda caught the bulk of it and devs got a couple thousand $ at most, with a few brass in each studio getting maybe a couple million $. Now that would be interesting.

[Zhipp]

Any employees who owned company stock probably got something. Everyone else would get nothing.

[ScootaKuH]

Really? I thought things like this happened in a day. I think the conversion went like this;

Microsoft: "Hey Bethesda dudes"
Bethesda: "Hey there Microsoft dudes"
MS: "listen, we've been thinking, how about we buy you for $7.5 billion? Just for the lulz, and we'll own all your IPs and shit"
Bethesda: "yeah why not? Could be fun"
MS: "Cool"
Bethesda: "Cool"

[Imortus_san]

And more to come before the end of the year we will ear some more acquisitions.

[wiz7191]

Sony fans need me to get out their feelings , man y’all are like a scorn woman who can’t let go. Can’t be mad at Microsoft for having the money to make acquisitions Sony can’t do even if they wanted to.

[masterfox]

Now it will take years to see the results :D

[Notellin]

I'd be far more concerned if they acquired a business for immediate short term gains with no long term potential.

But then again stupid fanboy jokes are still stupid.

[neomahi]

Microsoft trying to mimic big brother PlayStation, again.....

[Notellin]

What are you talking about? Sony has never made a move like this before.