I’ve got a feeling that when the Xbox Series X kicks off a new generation of gaming next month, that it’ll be an investment in a system that will become the default home to western RPGs. Not content to just have Outer Worlds developer Obsidian locked in as an exclusive game-development studio, Microsoft recently dropped a staggering $7.5 billion on Zenimax, parent company of Bethesda game studios.
There was a fear that all of Bethesda’s current projects would no longer be multi-platform releases, but Microsoft confirmed that the likes of Deathloop and Ghostwire: tokyo would still honor their deals to appear on PlayStation consoles. Future games though? It looks like Microsoft is ready to start flexing those exclusivity muscles.
Speaking with Kotaku, Xboss Phil Spencer was asked if Microsoft could to recoup its investment in Zenimax and Bethesda, without releasing the studio’s games on other consoles. “Yes,” Spencer said, adding a more detailed explanation afterwards.
I don’t want to be flip about that. This deal was not done to take games away from another player base like that. Nowhere in the documentation that we put together was: ‘How do we keep other players from playing these games?’ We want more people to be able to play games, not fewer people to be able to go play games.
But I’ll also say in the model—I’m just answering directly the question that you had—when I think about where people are going to be playing and the number of devices that we had, and we have xCloud and PC and Game Pass and our console base, I don’t have to go ship those games on any other platform other than the platforms that we support in order to kind of make the deal work for us. Whatever that means.
While it’s not a definite confirmation from Spencer due to him talking in pure PR, it does sound like Microsoft is well aware of the value of the brands it now has control of. Between users who’ll be happy to buy the game outright or keep their Game Pass subscription topped up, Bethesda’s catalogue is one heck of a draw for the publisher at it looks to re-establish in the 2020s after it spent most of the 2010s on the backfoot.
Sorry PlayStation 5 owners, looks like you’ll have to bite the bullet and secretly join team green if you want your fix of Elder Scrolls 6: Lydia’s Revenge.
Last Updated: October 19, 2020
Pieter Kruger
October 19, 2020 at 08:47
All Xbox exclusives will be playable on many platforms, just not PS it seems. Tapping into the massive PC market and offering them all these games on Game Pass for PC more than make up for the PS player base. Now I’m just waiting for all the media outlets to start asking the same questions re exclusivity to Sony…..
Pofadder
October 19, 2020 at 09:02
It will probably be another 3-5 years before we see ES6. By current trends PS5 should again be outselling xb by 2 to 1. If there are say 60mil ps5’s out there and you sell maybe 10 mil games and you make at least $10 per game that’s a $100m dollars. And of course the MX which will be there looking at FO76. Lot of dough to throw away for exclusivity. I Think they might go for a year timed exclusive like Tomb raider.
Insomnia is fun
October 19, 2020 at 07:51
“We want more people to be able to play games, not fewer people to be able to go play games”
By not releasing it on PS5? Oh well, at least I still have my PC. No need for the Xbox series Sex… or series Xerxes? So confusing, which is the beefy one again.
For the Emperor!
October 19, 2020 at 07:57
Pfff Elder Scrolls, not really a game changer that. And even if I wanted it, I am still part of the Master-bater-race.
*I would expect a bit of a timed exclusivity thing to happen, rather than outright exclusivity. But that might just be wishful thinking.
HvR
October 19, 2020 at 08:47
also not seeing it as a platform seller, the strongpoint of Elder Scrolls as always been the mod side of things and that side of both console platforms has been really lacklustre so the majority playerbase will still be PC and I doubt that exclusivity to the Xbox store will be more than exclusive beta or couple of days of pre-release play.
Banana Jim
October 20, 2020 at 13:11
You’re absolutely right on that part. Even now, Skyrim is being modded to such levels that it’s almost a completely different game.
Banana Jim
October 20, 2020 at 13:11
If Elder Scrolls 6 skips PC (steam or epic) I will change my name to Lemon Jim. There’s no way in hell that’s happening, so for the most part, we’re sorted if you own a decent PC.
Pieter Kruger
October 19, 2020 at 08:47
All Xbox exclusives will be playable on many platforms, just not PS it seems. Tapping into the massive PC market and offering them all these games on Game Pass for PC more than make up for the PS player base. Now I’m just waiting for all the media outlets to start asking the same questions re exclusivity to Sony…..
For the Emperor!
October 19, 2020 at 09:32
I don’t think they will, because Sony did not just buy someone for all the moneys and “might take the games away”. Get where you are coming from though. Lucky I am PC as well, which makes my current choice to switch to PS for their exclusives make more sense.
oOqUiS
October 21, 2020 at 12:29
Yo Pieter, hope all is well. Can we at least establish whether exclusives(pc-playstation/pc-xbox) is anti-consumer or not? Before the bethesda buyout, all we heard uncle Phil talked about was anit-consumer. After the bethesda buyout exclusives good now?
Pieter Kruger
October 21, 2020 at 14:10
Nope, exclusives suck and I’ve said before I hope the Bethesda games stay multiplat! But it seems that MS has no intention of releasing them on PS sadly! Are they really exclusive (thus anti-consumer) though if you can play them on your Xbox, your existing pc, existing phone, existing laptop, tablet & even your Samsung tv? If I want to play God Of War I must buy a PS, end of story…..Also, don’t think for a moment “Uncle Phil” won’t put Game Pass on PS if Sony ever decided to stop the gate keeping!
Pieter Kruger
October 21, 2020 at 14:10
Nope, exclusives suck and I’ve said before I hope the Bethesda games stay multiplat! But it seems that MS has no intention of releasing them on PS sadly! Are they really exclusive (thus anti-consumer) though if you can play them on your Xbox, your existing pc, existing phone, existing laptop, tablet & even your Samsung tv? If I want to play God Of War I must buy a PS, end of story…..Also, don’t think for a moment “Uncle Phil” won’t put Game Pass on PS if Sony ever decided to stop the gate keeping!
Pofadder
October 19, 2020 at 09:02
It will probably be another 3-5 years before we see ES6. By current trends PS5 should again be outselling xb by 2 to 1. If there are say 60mil ps5’s out there and you sell maybe 10 mil games and you make at least $10 per game that’s a $100m dollars. And of course the MX which will be there looking at FO76. Lot of dough to throw away for exclusivity. I Think they might go for a year timed exclusive like Tomb raider.
Rob
October 20, 2020 at 05:40
Just a quick note, Xbox game pass has 15 mil subs. Even with just the base of $10 a month, thats already $15 mil in one month. Can figure IF (I doubt they will go exclusive tho) they decide to keep it to their platform only, they would try and see if they can get more people on the game pass ultimate even if just for a month or two in order to play.
Phil ain’t keeping xbox the console as the main goal here anymore, he looking at a much bigger picture here fellas and I think it might work for MS this time round.
Hardscrabblehammer
October 19, 2020 at 17:18
People still don’t seem realize that difference in size between MSFT and Sony. MSFT’s capitalization is around 218 billion dollars. SONY is a roughly 1/3rd of that. XBOX is a freakin’ hobby for MSFT. They spent as much money acquiring Zenimax as Playstation MAKES for Sony. They’re not going to help out PS just to squeeze a few more bucks from their licenses.
Banana Jim
October 20, 2020 at 13:11
Is Elder Scrolls really such a gamechanger? I liked Morrowind, despised Oblivion, kind of liked parts of Skyrim, absolutely hated Elder Scrolls Online…
Will Elder Scrolls 6 lure me to get a big black heater box? I really doubt it. It would have to really tickle my man beans to get me excited.
Janus
October 20, 2020 at 16:26
I really don’t think that’s what Phil really said there… but even if he did. Why bother buying an Xbox? It’s completely without benefit. Even if they keep it off of PS5 you can just snag it on PC. So if you want to play Sony or Nintendo’s goodies, buy their console. If you want to play Microsoft’s goodies… invest in a decent desk top and laugh at their monolith impersonator all the way home.
I gotta say though. MS got scammed hard. If Star Wars was only worth 4.4 billion, Zenimax was worth half of that at the absolute best. Nearly 8 billion for a studio that’s best at violently murdering it’s own IPs in their cribs. Greaaaaaat.
pie9999
November 4, 2020 at 09:45
Because an xbox is one of the highest end machines you can buy, and for $500 or less. A 2000 series geforce costs more than half that alone, not to mention the cpu, ram, and of course the solid state drive, and games are opitimized to the max for them. It so much cheaper.
herkie
November 18, 2020 at 00:42
Yeah, but I was happy with my PS and Skyrim till I just couldn’t play it anymore. I left the country for a while in 2017 and gave it away to some kid that had no game system at all. Dumb me thinking the 5 would have to come out long before this. Wasn’t buying a 4 with the 5 always just around the corner for years now. So it is finally here and nothing I can buy to play on it comes close to the ES franchise. My PC did not survive the move from Oregon to Florida in April, so thinking about getting a new one because this laptop is just junk. But, I don’t want to have to pay in my office. And I haven’t ever paid a subscription to any site like Steam, never will. Gaming is expensive enough without subscriptions and add on’s. By the way, X box might have been decent competition till now, but it looks like the PS5 is going to just blow it out of the water, a whole new level of quality. Though I will withhold insisting on that till I see them side by side.
herkie
November 18, 2020 at 00:42
Yeah, but I was happy with my PS and Skyrim till I just couldn’t play it anymore. I left the country for a while in 2017 and gave it away to some kid that had no game system at all. Dumb me thinking the 5 would have to come out long before this. Wasn’t buying a 4 with the 5 always just around the corner for years now. So it is finally here and nothing I can buy to play on it comes close to the ES franchise. My PC did not survive the move from Oregon to Florida in April, so thinking about getting a new one because this laptop is just junk. But, I don’t want to have to pay in my office. And I haven’t ever paid a subscription to any site like Steam, never will. Gaming is expensive enough without subscriptions and add on’s. By the way, X box might have been decent competition till now, but it looks like the PS5 is going to just blow it out of the water, a whole new level of quality. Though I will withhold insisting on that till I see them side by side.
herkie
November 18, 2020 at 00:31
They get you coming and going, buying a great PC to play on means getting a huge bundle of MS software in the bargain. I hate Apple, and I hate MS so I am never going to be happy there, but I have all Sony gear, TV, home theater, PS, and I am not dumping it all to play ES anything even though I loved both Oblivion and Skyrim. So unless Sony comes out with some game that would satisfy after ES there really is no point in owning a PS5 and I won’t be buying an Xbox POS!
herkie
November 18, 2020 at 00:20
I have less than zero interest in ever buying any Microsoft product and was going to buy a PS5 next month. But there is no point in buying the PS5 if I cannot play ES6 on it. Starfield? Bethesda has committed suicide by insisting that come out before an already way too long wait for ES6. Years before ES6 comes out? Of course some fans will sell their Sony gear and buy and Xbox just to play it when it does come out, I will not be one of them and I think they have gutted the franchise with millions of ES players just moving on to something else. Sony needs to get off it’s butt and buy a game maker that can give us a game that can compete with our old elder scrolls addictions. The games available for the PS5 are about as lame and out of date as they get.