When Xbox announced that it would be acquiring Bethesda, gamers on the internet went aflame with questions. People wanted to know whether the acquisition would affect the exclusivity of certain Bethesda games, how involved Microsoft would be in the inner workings of Bethesda, and more. Most of those questions have been answered, but there's still a lot that is uncertain surrounding the deal. Although Xbox fans may be excited about the acquisition at the moment, it could end up having negative consequences for the gaming industry as a whole in the long run for one specific reason.
For those that may have missed it, Xbox now owns ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda. This means that franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Prey, Dishonored, and more are all technically under the Xbox umbrella now. There are some obvious effects of this acquisition, including the potential for certain Bethesda games to become Xbox exclusives in the future, but few have taken the time to look at what this might mean for the gaming industry as a whole. Sony and Microsoft are competing more now with the upcoming release of their next gen consoles than ever before, yet gamers were just beginning to enjoy an age of cooperation between the two.
Cooperation Between Sony and Microsoft
These two companies have always been at odds with one another by nature of them being direct competitors, but recent years have seen the walls between the two start to break. Cross-platform games have become more and more common as of late, resulting in a more unified gaming community regardless of which console players prefer to use. Naturally, now that the next generation consoles are being released, both Microsoft and Sony have put their guards back up, doing whatever they can to draw in consumers.
It's likely that this sort of cooperation will die down as a result, and the acquisition of Bethesda by Xbox will only further drive the wedge between the two. More likely than not, this will result in more exclusive games, timed exclusive content, console-based early access, and the like. These are tactics that Sony has been using for a while now to great success, but fans aren't typically very fond of it. For example, when it was revealed that Marvel's Avengers' Spider-Man would be PS4 exclusive, even PS4 fans found themselves annoyed. Xbox can't be blamed for playing the game too, but this could take gaming in a direction that fans don't want.
Xbox Acquires Bethesda
It should be said that Microsoft confirmed that Bethesda's exclusivity agreements would be honored under the new ownership, meaning titles like Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will retain their PS/PC exclusive status. The effect will be seen more on new games or games that have yet to announce their platforms. Some Bethesda fans speculate that The Elder Scrolls 6 could be a timed Xbox exclusive, and others are worried that Microsoft won't make the most out of these lucrative IPs.
Regardless, it remains to be seen how this acquisition will truly change the gaming industry. On the one hand, Microsoft needs to do what it can to compete, and Sony has shown no shame in using exclusivity to market its console. On the other hand, this could be the start of even further differentiating the two competing consoles from one another, moving gamers back to an age where they couldn't play with their friends across console. Finally, though analysts say Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda is not a monopoly, some do find it concerning that one of the biggest console developers in the industry just purchased one of the biggest game developers. Interested fans should keep a close eye on what happens next.
Xbox now owns Bethesda.