Purchase of $ 7.5 billion from Microsoft Zenimax Media, parent company of Negative consequence, The old documents, i Doom manufacturer Bethesda, has removed another set of obstacles, gaining approval to continue both the European Commission and the United States Securities and Exchange Commissions.
“The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise any competition concerns, given the entity’s limited market position combined upwards and the presence of strong competitors in video game distribution,” says a new update. on the European Commission website.
The SEC has also given the green light. As NME first reported, a Efficiency note was posted on the regulatory agency’s website on March 4, which means yes he accepted acquisition details as presented by Microsoft, including the effect on stock prices. Previously, Zenimax Media was a private company, while Microsoft was publicly traded.
The plans of the agreement were first announced last September, with the forecast that the acquisition will end at the end of this year. Although this will contribute to the total number of Microsoft’s own gaming studios up to a huge 23, it remains to be seen how the company will take advantage of Bethesda games that have traditionally been cross-platform.
G / O Media may receive a commission
Upcoming Bethesda games like Arkane’s Deathloop i Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire: Tokyo, both exclusive to the PS5 console that will be released in 2021, will adhere to the terms of these original agreements, as previously confirmed by Microsoft. At the same time, the company has kept the door open for making games beyond that, such as The Elder Scrolls VI i Starfield, Xbox Exclusives. In an interview with CNBC last September, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said games like these would be available on the day and date on Xbox Game Pass, but it was said Bloomberg this exclusivity would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
In an interview with Kotaku last October, Spencer said it would be possible for Microsoft to recoup the cost of the acquisition without bringing games like this The Elder Scrolls VI a PlayStation. “[W]When I think about where the people will play and the number of devices we had, and we have xCloud, PC and Game Pass and our console base, I don’t have to go send these games to any platform other than the platforms we support to make the deal work for us, ”he said.
Although the deal has not yet been finalized, it seems to have already had an effect on the rest of the game’s development landscape. Last month, Kotaku reported Phil Harrison, head of Google Stadia he told staff at an internal meeting that Microsoft’s acquisition was one of the factors that had led him to close the book on first-hand game development in less than two years in the formation of completely new studios.