Xbox Head Hints to Keep Bethesda Games Xbox-Exclusive
Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer confirms that Microsoft need not to release Bethesda games on PS and other platforms.
In a shocking move, Microsoft announced a full buyout of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks last month in a massive $7.5 billion deal only a few months ahead of next-gen console hardware Xbox Series X launch.
Many people within and outside of gaming industry were left wondering whether Bethesda games will arrive in other platforms in future. Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer has addressed these concerns in a recent interview with Kotaku.
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| Xbox Head Hints to Keep Bethesda Games Xbox-Exclusive |
When asked if it is still possible to get back on $7.5 billion investment Microsoft made if they keep from selling Elder Scrolls VI on PlayStation 5, his quick answer was "Yes", before he starts breaking down about their deal with Bethesda.
Spencer added that Microsoft didn't make this deal just to take away games from player base of another platform. They never had such intention like that and in fact, Xbox wants more players to be able to play these games, not fewer ones.
Phil Spencer clarifies Microsoft's position on acquiring Bethesda and bringing games on other platforms.
I don't want to be flip about that. This deal was not done to take games away from another player base like that. Nowhere in the documentation that we put together was: 'How do we keep other players from playing these games?' We want more people to be able to play games, not fewer people to be able to go play games. But I’ll also say in the model—I'm just answering directly the question that you had. When I think about where people are going to be playing and the number of devices that we had, and we have xCloud and PC and Game Pass and our console base, I don't have to go ship those games on any other platform other than the platforms that we support in order to kind of make the deal work for us, whatever that means.
Bethesda is publisher for some well-known franchises in gaming including Doom, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein and more. Not launching future series titles on PS5 or anywhere else clearly puts Xbox in market leading position.
A timed-exclusive deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo on PlayStation 5 already took place before Microsoft acquired Bethesda. Spencer assured to honor any past deals but yet to reveal for how long they will remain as PS5-exclusive.
Microsoft or Xbox never really ruled out possibilities of The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield to arrive on other platforms other than PC and Xbox. Phil Spencer confirms that future titles for other consoles will be decided on a case to case basis.
Xbox already launched a couple of first-party titles for other consoles including Cuphead and Minecraft to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Most recently, Ori and the Will of the Wisps has made its debut on Switch handheld as well.
Spencer has not made any concrete statement about their future plans with Bethesda games but he clearly implied that these titles are likely to remain exclusive for Xbox family of consoles and generate enough revenue to make profit.
Microsoft is not stopping after purchasing Bethesda and is looking forward to buy more video game studios that serve their interest. Xbox is rumored to buy Ubisoft next while preparing to release Xbox Series X in November 10, 2020.
