Some of Bethesda’s future games will be exclusive to Xbox and PC.
The news comes following Xbox’s completion of its acquisition of ZeniMax Media, with an official blog post by Xbox Head Phil Spencer teasing the future exclusives. The post also says that the Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be “the best place to experience new Bethesda games”, with Game Pass to receive more of the studio’s titles this week.
“As we shared previously, it’s vitally important that Bethesda continues making games the way it always has,” wrote Spencer. “We look forward to empowering Bethesda’s creative teams to reach even more players around the world, helping make future Bethesda titles the biggest and most popular games in their history. Xbox and Bethesda have long shared a common vision for the future of gaming. Both as fans and as creators, Bethesda understands the potential of Xbox Game Pass.”
Besthesda aside, the acquisition means that game development studios like id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, and MachineGames are now part of the Xbox family, although it’s currently unknown if these other studios will also contribute Xbox and PC exclusives. Microsoft announced that it would be acquiring ZeniMax Media and Bethesda in September 2020.
Following ZeniMax Media founder Robert A. Altman’s passing in February this year, his son, James Altman, wrote, “Closing our deal with Microsoft will be a bittersweet moment for all of us. But I take comfort in knowing that our Company is and will be in the capable hands of Robert’s friends. And I know that we will continue to honor his legacy by making the world’s greatest games for our fans.”
In the Xbox blog post, Spencer said, “Robert believed deeply in the power of gaming and we are privileged to be able to continue his work by joining forces with the teams he built and led for many years. I will miss the opportunity to work directly with him on the future of our combined teams but I know that his spirit will live on in the shared work we do and motivate us to make this partnership all he envisioned.”
