Microsoft Purchases Zenimax, Parent Company Of Bethesda Softworks

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that they would be acquiring ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, iD Software, and many other developers.

This $7.5 billion dollar acquisition puts many major game franchises under Microsoft’s ownership, including The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Wolfenstein, and many more. According to a blog post from Xbox head Phil Spencer, players can expect many of Bethesda’s iconic franchises to appear on Xbox Game Pass, including present and seemingly future releases.

At the time of this writing, it is unclear whether this means all of Bethesda’s Games will become exclusive to Xbox moving forward. In a statement issued to Bloomberg by Phil Spencer, he confirmed that Microsoft would still be honoring exclusivity agreements for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo for PS5.  Bethesda’s Pete Hines also mentioned separately that their company would still be publishing their own games, making it possible that they would still appear on non-Xbox platforms like the Switch.

Since Microsoft is still willing to honor exclusivity agreements with the Playstation, we can probably rest assured that nothing Bethesda had planned for the Switch, such as Doom Eternal‘s port, has been affected for now. We will be sure to report back with more details as they come.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.