Xbox has managed to make massive waves in the gaming community over the past 24 hours. Early on Monday morning, Xbox announced it had acquired ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda, for a massive $7.5 billion. And while this might be disappointing to players who plan on getting a PS5 in the next generation, this news seems to be even more disappointing for Sony, as reports indicate that it was eyeing a timed exclusivity deal for Bethesda's upcoming Starfield.
According to a tweet by Kinda Funny co-host Imran Khan, it seems that Sony had been attempting to negotiate a deal for Starfield's timed exclusivity on the PS5. While he didn't offer any specifics as to what the tone of these negotiations were like, Khan did note that that these talks were happening as recently as "a few months ago." Needless to say, it sounds like these talks are likely done now.
Had this reported exclusivity deal gone through before Xbox's acquisition, that would mean Xbox and PlayStation would likely be talking to each other a lot over the next couple years. As it stands currently, two Bethesda published games, Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, are set to have timed exclusivity on the PS5. Xbox has already stated that it will honor these deals made for the PS5, and it can be assumed it would've made the same gesture if the Starfield deal had gone through.
While it certainly would've been major news had PlayStation managed to land that timed exclusivity deal for Starfield, that information would be even more poignant if the public knew more about what exactly Starfield is. Currently, the only thing really known about Bethesda's new IP is that it seems to be an action RPG set in space. Other than that, players will just have to wait until 2021 for more Starfield news.
Sony fans were certainly upset that Xbox had acquired Bethesda, however, rather than focus on it too long, they quickly began suggesting a strategy to counter the acquisition. PlayStation fans on Twitter began calling for Sony to buy Konami. The reason behind this would be two-fold: to respond to Microsoft's major purchase, and retrieve the rights for Silent Hill, Castlevania, and Metal Gear Solid. However, that deal seems a bit far-fetched with Sony not indicating whether that is something it would even consider doing. It seems like PlayStation fans will just need to hang on and see what exactly this new partnership between Xbox and Bethesda looks like.
Starfield is currently in development.