After news broke of Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda yesterday, fans and analysts quickly began tearing apart every bit of information they could get their hands on to see exactly what was becoming an Xbox owned property. At the same time, Bethesda Director Todd Howard released a statement about the merger and the relationship that both companies had enjoyed from the start of the first Xbox's lifecycle to this recent acquisition.
At the end of this statement, Howard included an anecdote to cement this positive relationship between himself and Microsoft that held a very Xbox specific slant to it. Related to his Lifetime Achievement Award, received at the 2016 GDC, an offhand joke led to a very unique gift from Microsoft that was made specifically for the Bethesda Director.
According to Howard, when he received the award in 2016, he made a comment in his acceptance speech, "I wondered how many achievement points this is worth." At the time, a number of Microsoft employees joked back to Howard about his speech, claiming that they would find out exactly how much a Lifetime Achievement was worth. However, a few months later, both the employees and Howard himself would find out the exact amount, when the Bethesda developer was suddenly gifted a code for a one-of-a-kind game.
The mysterious code unlocked a game named Todd Howard, that when booted up simply unlocked an achievement titled "Lifetime" that awarded 1000 GamerScore once received. So, it would appear that when those Microsoft employees went to find out the value of a Lifetime Achievement Award, the answer was the equivalent of completing every achievement available in a single game. Howard claims that it still sits in his list of achievements and he still appreciates the gesture from Microsoft whenever he sees it while scrolling through his unlocked achievements on Xbox.
Considering the nature of the news that led to Howard's statement, it's not too strange for the Bethesda Director to want to share a fairly heartwarming moment to emphasize the relationship between the two companies. While the recent acquisition has some players worried about which Bethesda titles will be Xbox exclusive and what this means for future titles like The Elder Scrolls 6, this was likely a merger long in the making. Looking at the success Bethesda titles, especially its open world titles like Fallout and Elder Scrolls, it's likely that this may improve Xbox players' experience, as upcoming titles will likely be coming to Xbox and PC Game Pass nearly as soon as they release.