Microsoft has officially announced their acquisition of ZeniMax Media Inc.; the publisher which owns Bethesda Softworks and several other external studios.
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is an all-cash transaction worth USD 7,5 billion, the Redmond giant noted in a press release announcing the acquisition.
Bethesda’s major gaming franchises include Dishonored, Doom, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, and Quake.
The new deal is Microsoft’s most expensive video game purchase ever. It is around three times the amount which Microsoft paid to acquire Minecraft. The deal brings a whole range of major Bethesda titles into direct ownership of Microsoft, raising the question of whether they will now become Xbox exclusives.
“With the acquisition of Bethesda, we metaphorically and literally double our gaming content capacity,” said Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella.
Microsoft has confirmed that they will be honouring the timed PlayStation exclusives of Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo. Moving forward, Bethesda games will be on PC and Xbox. However, whether they come to PlayStation or not will reportedly be decided on a case-by-case basis.
