Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Microsoft acquires ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion. || Image Source:https://kotaku.com/Microsoft acquires ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion. || Image Source:https://kotaku.com/

Microsoft Corp. has said on Monday that they would acquire ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion in cash. This deal would bring popular game titles like Fallout and Doom reboot under their wing. The tech giant looks forward to strengthening its gaming platform and thinks that adding these games would reinforce their lineup of games for their gaming platform, Xbox.

This move is taken to primarily attract players towards buying Xbox. ZeniMax is the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Bethesda Softworks have released popular game titles like The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, and Dishonored, which have a decent fan following.

The conglomerate has said that they will bring future games from Bethesda Softworks under monthly Xbox Game Pass subscription service when they launch on Xbox or PC. Currently, the monthly gaming pass has more than 15 million subscribers.

The company has also informed that although the new acquisition, Bethesda’s structure, and leadership will remain in place.

The new acquisition came weeks before the hyped new Xbox model launch from the company. Sony and Microsoft would yet again go head to head with the new models released by both the companies. The Xbox Series X is scheduled to launch in November while Sony’s new console is rumored for a  “Holiday 2020” launch.

Xbox X
Xbox X

While previously in 2013, during the launch of their Xbox One console, Microsoft had talked about bringing the whole “entertainment” system under the same hood of their gaming console, this time they are thinking of making a statement by focusing just on the “gaming” side of the console.

They are looking to attract the “core gaming” audience. And this move of buying a game developing company with massive hits display their focus in the gaming industry.

The Xbox Game Pass was launched back in the summer of 2017. The company offers a curated library of over 100 games for which the users need to pay just $ 10 per month. Under the monthly pass, every major Xbox game published by Microsoft, from “Halo” to “Gears of War” to “Forza Motorsport,” would be published to the service’s library at launch.

Previously, every pass holder needed to download the games to play. But from this September, Microsoft added a new feature. Every pass holder will be able to directly stream games, that are available under the Gaming Pass, from the console without any delay. This would for the first time provide gamers a built-in Netflix type gaming experience l, without the hassle of downloads. For $15 a month, you’ll be able to stream over 100 games to smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft recently went on to acquire TikTok’s US division. Although they were, for quite some time, the leader of the race, they lost out as ByteDance did not want to sell off the US division of the popular video making application. They have reportedly worked out a deal with both Walmart and Oracle. Although there has been no confirmation about the deal, according to several sources this would bypass the ban that was to be imposed on the Chinese application.

Spencer commented that the acquisition of the gaming company by Microsoft is a “landmark step” for the company. Recently, in a news release, Microsoft had said that it now has 23 “creative studio teams” making games for Xbox and PC.

Spencer wrote, “One of the things that have me most excited is seeing the roadmap with Bethesda’s future games, some announced and many unannounced, to Xbox console and PC, including Starfield, the highly anticipated, new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios.”

In a letter posted on the developer’s website, Peter Hines, senior vice president of global marketing and communications at Bethesda, pointed out why the deal would be great for both the companies. Hines also said that the company has a “long history of working with Microsoft,” and it would continue to work the same way. He also said that this acquisition will let in more resources for Bethesda and allow them “to innovate” and “to grow.”

He wrote, “But the key point is we’re still Bethesda. 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.”

By Swastik Bhattacharjee

A student from Kolkata. Currently content creator at The Indian Wire.

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