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Microsoft gets its hands on video game publisher Bethesda for $ 7.5 billion

2020-09-21T15:43:53.894Z


Microsoft is strengthening its Xbox Game Pass service with licenses like Doom, Fallout or Wolfenstein.This is a major acquisition in the video game sector. On Monday, Microsoft announced the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, better known to the general public as Bethesda. This American publisher of video games for consoles and PC is famous for its Fallout, DOOM, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls ( Skyrim , Oblivion ...) or Dishonored sagas , each opus of which has sold millions of copies worldwide. . Th


This is a major acquisition in the video game sector.

On Monday, Microsoft announced the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, better known to the general public as Bethesda.

This American publisher of video games for consoles and PC is famous for its

Fallout, DOOM, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls

(

Skyrim

,

Oblivion

...) or

Dishonored

sagas

, each opus of which has sold millions of copies worldwide. .

These powerful licenses pass under the Microsoft flag for 7.5 billion dollars, settled in cash.

This valuation is close to that of the French Ubisoft, whose market value is 8.8 billion euros, or 10 billion dollars.

The operation should be completed by June 2021. This is Microsoft's largest acquisition in the field of video games.

The record was previously held by Mojang, the creator of the game Minecraft, acquired in 2014 for $ 2.5 billion.

Strengthening the attractiveness of the Game Pass

Microsoft has been making multiple acquisitions of video game studios for two years now.

Since 2018, seven have joined Xbox Game Studios, doubling in size.

But if these companies are recognized for the quality of their productions, none had the weight and the reputation of Bethesda.

This redemption frenzy is intended to feed the Xbox Game Pass service, which can be described as Netflix for video games.

For 13 euros per month, the owner of an Xbox console, but also of a PC and more recently of an Android smartphone can draw at will from a catalog of a hundred video games.

Among them, all the productions of Xbox Game Studios.

We will be adding Bethesda's iconic franchises to Xbox Game Pass, on console and PC,

” Phil Spencer, director of video games at Microsoft, said in a statement.

Future Bethesda games, such as

Starfield

or

The Elder Scrolls 6

, will also be available on Game Pass from day one of their marketing.

Enough to reinforce the appeal of this service, which already has more than 15 million subscribers worldwide.

Blur on PlayStation 5 releases

Does this acquisition mean that none of future Bethesda games will be released on Sony's PlayStation 5?

Neither party mentions this possibility in their official statements.

And Microsoft has so far been rather flexible in this area.

His Minecraft game is available on all consoles on the market.

Another of its licenses,

Ori

, was released for the Nintendo Switch.

As Phil Spencer at Le Figaro explained this weekend,

“it is not the number of consoles sold that counts.

The important thing is the number of people we reach.

"

However, releasing Bethesda's future productions as an Xbox exclusive would rebalance the balance of power with Sony.

The Japanese indeed relies on its powerful catalog of exclusive licenses, such as

God of War, Horizon, The Last of Us

or

Spiderman

, to attract consumers.

Opposite, the Xbox exclusives are paler.

Adding Bethesda productions to that changes the game.

Microsoft will have to clarify this point.

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2020-09-21

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