A seismic shift has occurred in the gaming industry with the news that Microsoft is buying Bethesda and its internal studios as part of its acquisition of parent company ZeniMax. With this move, the future of the Bethesda brand is going to be very different than what most fans were probably expecting, now that franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, and Wolfenstein are part of the Xbox fold. It also means Xbox Game Pass will become a much more prominent platform for the publisher’s future titles.
The gaming community is largely still trying to wrap its head around one of the biggest acquisitions in the industry’s history, because of the Bethesda franchises Microsoft now owns. While the full scope of the ZeniMax buyout remains to be seen, Microsoft has assured that Game Pass will be a key factor in its plans, announcing in a press release today that it will be “adding Bethesda's iconic franchises” to the subscription service.
The press release is rather sparse with details, but one thing it did confirm is that future Bethesda titles will be available on Game Pass the same day they launch for Xbox and PC, since they will be first-party titles. Specifically, Microsoft used Bethesda’s newest IP, Starfield, as an example, though unfortunately, it wasn’t able to divulge when Starfield might get a proper gameplay reveal.
Other than that, it’s safe to assume a few things about the Game Pass initiative. It’s highly likely that more existing Bethesda titles will be added to the service, joining the handful of games that are already on it, like The Elder Scrolls Online, Rage 2, and Fallout 76. Doom Eternal has been noticeably absent from Xbox Game Pass, so there’s a good chance that will change in the near future. Furthermore, it’s likely that these games will become mainstays on the service, instead of the limited-time offers that most of its games are.
Sadly, no mention was made of perhaps the biggest Bethesda title currently in the works, The Elder Scrolls 6. It seems a given that it will be a day-one launch on Game Pass as well, but beyond that, Microsoft has yet to hint at its plans for the game. The likeliest option is that it will become exclusive to Microsoft platforms, similarly to how another major RPG, Final Fantasy 16, will be exclusive to the PS5 (for the most part), but until more substantial information is released, that’s all just speculation.
Microsoft has been pushing Xbox Game Pass hard in recent times, even going so far as to make Game Pass available for Android devices. And it seems that its efforts are paying dividends because the company also announced today that the service’s total number of subscribers has reached 15 million. That number is bound to grow over the next few years as Bethesda’s future titles start coming to it.
Source: Bethesda