News Microsoft purchases Bethesda Softworks in industry-changing acquisition

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quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
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Right, but their 'home grown' stuff has been console first for sometime now. They pretty much abandoned PC as a primary dev. Sure they eventually bring it to PC, but it's not their primary platform.

It is pretty much the opposite now. There have been several games released on PC that either haven't come to console (FlightSim and Age of Empires remasters) or come later (Gears Tactics coming to console next month). Everything else in the past few years has been simultaneous release.
 
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Feb 4, 2009
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All of their games are now PC games.

Halo, Gears, Forza, FlightSim, Age of Empires, Wasteland, State of Decay, Outer Worlds, etc...

BTW State of Decay has some gamer outrage to it, however I found it to be an enjoyable game. I recommend buying when it is on sale.
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
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BTW State of Decay has some gamer outrage to it, however I found it to be an enjoyable game. I recommend buying when it is on sale.

Really? I mean it was buggy at release and the multiplayer is kind of dumb, but I was not aware of anything resembling outrage. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As an aside: The normal mode is way too easy IMO, if you do try it out just play on Dreadzone after you get some practice with the mechanics.
 
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A///

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2017
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Their titles are money machines. GTA5 was a billion dollar release. They have no reason to accept a buy out.
It's also been on the market for 7 years to accumulate that much revenue. MS has nearly 140B in cash on hand. The founder left the company anyway.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
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It's also been on the market for 7 years to accumulate that much revenue. MS has nearly 140B in cash on hand. The founder left the company anyway.

No, it made $800 million on the first day and a billion in 3 days immediately after launch. This was before there was any MP at all as it hadn’t been released yet.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
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If I recall, Microsoft unveiled that Obsidian is making a game that looks similar to the style of Elder Scrolls. I wonder if Microsoft will let two of their studios work on competing games, or if the release dates are far enough apart that it doesn’t matter?
 

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
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If I recall, Microsoft unveiled that Obsidian is making a game that looks similar to the style of Elder Scrolls. I wonder if Microsoft will let two of their studios work on competing games, or if the release dates are far enough apart that it doesn’t matter?
Gotta be the latter. Bethesda still has to release their sci fi game (Starfield), so you're talking at least 2 releases into the future. No way it takes Obsidian that long to make Avowed.
 

A///

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2017
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No, it made $800 million on the first day and a billion in 3 days immediately after launch. This was before there was any MP at all as it hadn’t been released yet.
Ok. It took them 7 years to gather 6B in revenue. If MS throws them $40B they'll take the offer. They'd be stupid not to.
 

Mamere782

Member
Oct 10, 2017
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The only thing that matters to me with the Elder Scrolls franchise is mods. If they temper with moddability of Elder Scrolls 6 (I.E., if somehow MS being the owner of the franchise means there's going to be no official tools to mod the game with) then - at least for me - it means the franchise is completely dead, period. And there's no other way to look at it. There's no way I would have played Skyrim past the 2013 or 2014 mark if it hadn't been for mods, same for Oblivion, and same for Morrowind. I don't bother with 'vanilla' Bethesda games since around Fallout 3.

However, if moddability isn't going to be affected, and if the PC version (at least) of ES6 will be just as moddable as Skyrim was, then this doesn't change anything for me at all and I'll still be able to enjoy another ES game for years after its release. And this potentially applies to the next Fallout game as well.

As for the other franchises, including DOOM, I couldn't care less even if I tried, no matter who owns them.
Totally agree....However, I still haven't played original Skyrim that I ordered years ago from Steam, though it is downloaded on my computer. Did play Oblivian, but will probably play again. Have so many unplayed games, I really don't care that much about this deal.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
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On other forums people are losing their minds over this deal. It’s crazy lol

It seems like a lot of people have a bad habit of thinking the worst of everything. I look at it this way... it likely makes the most sense of Microsoft to look at sales numbers by platform. As the joke goes, Skyrim has released on everything, and Microsoft will have access to that sales data. If they see that the game has sold very well on all platforms, they would need to seriously consider the value in harming that. I could see them doing some studies into how the game could draw users to their platforms (Xbox or Windows), and I could see them considering restricting the release to their platform if the increase in user attachment far outweighs the number of users across other platforms. In other words, why restrict Elder Scrolls VI to Xbox/Windows if the benefit doesn't outweigh the revenue from selling it on the PlayStation and the Switch.
 
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quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,068
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It seems like a lot of people have a bad habit of thinking the worst of everything. I look at it this way... it likely makes the most sense of Microsoft to look at sales numbers by platform. As the joke goes, Skyrim has released on everything, and Microsoft will have access to that sales data. If they see that the game has sold very well on all platforms, they would need to seriously consider the value in harming that. I could see them doing some studies into how the game could draw users to their platforms (Xbox or Windows), and I could see them considering restricting the release to their platform if the increase in user attachment far outweighs the number of users across other platforms. In other words, why restrict Elder Scrolls VI to Xbox/Windows if the benefit doesn't outweigh the revenue from selling it on the PlayStation and the Switch.

Maybe, could be timed exclusivity, but I still kind of doubt we will see much on PS or Switch, at least in the next few years. As far as I can tell their #1 priority is Gamepass subscriptions. It will all hinge on the success of Gamepass. If their growth peters out then I see them doing cross-platform releases, if they are still growing at a good rate then they won't.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
Maybe, could be timed exclusivity, but I still kind of doubt we will see much on PS or Switch, at least in the next few years. As far as I can tell their #1 priority is Gamepass subscriptions. It will all hinge on the success of Gamepass. If their growth peters out then I see them doing cross-platform releases, if they are still growing at a good rate then they won't.

I guess I wonder whether GamePass really needs exclusives for it to be successful, or is what they need just a certain amount of "perceived value"? While I could just go out and buy Elder Scrolls VI, I can just play it -- along with all these other games -- with my Game Pass membership.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Maybe, could be timed exclusivity, but I still kind of doubt we will see much on PS or Switch, at least in the next few years. As far as I can tell their #1 priority is Gamepass subscriptions. It will all hinge on the success of Gamepass. If their growth peters out then I see them doing cross-platform releases, if they are still growing at a good rate then they won't.

Many studios have current projects that are slated for PlayStation release and they announced that they will honor that. If we see any exclusive content for Xbox it will be a long while. What we will start to see sooner than later is catalog titles appearing on game pass, possibly with series x updates.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
I guess I wonder whether GamePass really needs exclusives for it to be successful, or is what they need just a certain amount of "perceived value"? While I could just go out and buy Elder Scrolls VI, I can just play it -- along with all these other games -- with my Game Pass membership.

Game pass ultimate includes Xbox live gold too which adds to the value. Hundreds of games you can download and play and you get the online play service included.
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,068
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Many studios have current projects that are slated for PlayStation release and they announced that they will honor that. If we see any exclusive content for Xbox it will be a long while. What we will start to see sooner than later is catalog titles appearing on game pass, possibly with series x updates.

They only announced they will honor the current deals for Deathloop and Ghostwire. Anything not announced is up in the air.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
They only announced they will honor the current deals for Deathloop and Ghostwire. Anything not announced is up in the air.

Phil Spencer said current projects are unaffected. That includes Starfield etc as they are current projects