Microsoft has announced plans to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion in cash.
Bethesda Softworks is one of the biggest privately held game developers and publishers in the world and controls major franchises like “Doom,” “Fallout,” “The Elder Scrolls,” “Quake,” “Wolfenstein” and “Dishonored”.
The deal will give Microsoft’s Xbox games division ownership of those franchises and the company plans to add Bethesda’s franchises to its Xbox Game Pass cloud-based service, which has over 15 million subscribers.
The deal also sees Microsoft expanding from 15 to 23 creative studio teams – the eight additions being Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios.
The announcement comes just hours before pre-orders for the new “Xbox Series S” and “Xbox Series X” consoles go live.
Source: The Verge
