Bad news for PlayStation fans
Microsoft has agreed to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, in a deal reported
to be worth $7.5 billion.
Bethesda are one of the biggest names in gaming, and the people behind massive franchises including
The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Quake, and more.
Obviously, the big thing here is that everyone predicting is that it will mean that those franchises will now be exclusive to Xbox and Windows, meaning that PlayStation owners will miss out.
No official announcement on that has been made yet. In fact,
Bloomberg reports that Bethesda actually have two 'timed exclusives' announced for PlayStation 5 -
Deathloop and
Ghostwire: Tokyo are both set to be restricted to Sony's machine for a limited period of time before they can appear on other consoles.
"Today is a special day, as we welcome some of the most accomplished studios in the games industry to Xbox. We are thrilled to announce Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks," writes
Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox.
"Bethesda’s games have always had a special place on Xbox and in the hearts of millions of gamers around the world."
"We’re still Bethesda," said Pete Hines, the company's VP of PR & Marketing, in
a statement. "We’re still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we’ve worked with for years, and those games will be published by us."
"So why the change? Because it allows us to make even better games going forward. Microsoft is an incredible partner and offers access to resources that will make us a better publisher and developer. We believe that means better games for you to play. Simply put - we believe that change is an important part of getting better. We believe in pushing ourselves to be better. To innovate. To grow."
