The news of Microsoft buying Bethesda sent video game fans reeling, and it even provoked some revealing responses from game developers.
Microsoft made the big announcement first thing this morning, revealing that the purchase of roughly $7.5 billion is expected to clear next year and that all of Bethesda's future games will hit on Xbox Game Pass as soon as they launch.
We'll have to wait and see how Bethesda's existing catalog of games starts filtering into Xbox Game Pass. But one thing is for sure - it didn't take fans long to realize what it might mean now that the Fallout company and Obsidian, the developers of Fallout: New Vegas, are under one roof.
Welcome to the family, friends! 💚 https://t.co/1uuNB1XUwWSeptember 21, 2020
And it didn't take long for Obsidian to respond - though maybe not with as much certainty as fans would like.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/MqyiuNsWS2September 21, 2020
On top of Bethesda Game Studios titles, the purchase also means the entire catalog of games from id Software is joining Microsoft. Doom co-creator John Romero humbly requested that Microsoft take good care of his hulking son Doom Guy, and then remarked on what a strange trip the franchise has gone on since the early '90s.
We'll be sure to feed him plenty of demons and clean his armor every night.September 21, 2020
We imagined making games that we wanted to play, games we could find nowhere else, and we had the ability and drive to pull it off. Right place, right time, right team. That these games are now franchises with amazing teams behind them is incredible. https://t.co/cNPN4r2jqrSeptember 21, 2020
Meanwhile, fellow Doom co-creator John Carmack was encouraged by the news, and thought it might even mean he'll get to work with some of the franchises he helped create once again. The series of multi-million dollar lawsuits that he was involved with between Bethesda's parent company and his current employer Oculus may have soured the previous relationship.
Great! I think Microsoft has been a good parent company for gaming IPs, and they don’t have a grudge against me, so maybe I will be able to re engage with some of my old titles. https://t.co/GijQGEL4tZSeptember 21, 2020
The CEO of Microsoft himself even marked the occasion with a message on his personal Twitter account. For us it was the day that Microsoft massively reshaped the status quo of the games industry, for Satya Nadella it was Monday.
Three billion people look to gaming for entertainment, community, and achievement and our ambition is to empower each of them, wherever they play. Today is a step forward on that journey as we welcome the beloved studios and franchises of @Bethesda to @Xbox https://t.co/LENQCXTwBgSeptember 21, 2020
We're still waiting to find out what exactly the Xbox acquisition of ZeniMax will mean for games like The Elder Scrolls 6, but you won't have to wait long to get an Xbox Series X pre-order in.
