There was some rather big news that came out earlier this week that I’m sure you are all are aware of. Microsoft went out and announced that it has acquired ZeniMax Media, a massive company that has several video game development studios. For $7 billion, Microsoft was able to pick up the likes of MachineGames, Arkane, id Software, and arguably the biggest studio from the mix, Bethesda. This would give Microsoft a large collection of beloved franchises to make exclusive to the Xbox umbrella.
In the future, we may see the likes of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout turn into a Microsoft exclusive video game franchise. Still, that doesn’t seem to be the end of Microsoft’s attempt to bring in more exclusive content for the next-generation of video game platforms. Both Microsoft and Sony have plans to bring out their next-generation console into the marketplace this November. However, while both consoles seemed to be pretty powerful, the biggest console winner out of this mix will be which console brings out the more impressive exclusives.
With Microsoft now having control of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Prey, The Evil Within, among others, it looks like that there are more IPs that may be coming into ownership of Microsoft. This bit of news came from the Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella who made note of Microsoft’s interest in other studios to Cnet. The CEO went on to say that just building a studio from scratch is not an easy task. As a result, gaining a workforce with an established studio and IP will be more enticing for the company even if it means throwing out a massive sum of money.
We don’t know just what other studios were being focused on. ZeniMax Media was a massive move but there are still some other iconic IPs and studios out there in the mix. Perhaps we’ll see Sony compete by acquiring some studios of their own which could prompt some studios to grow and further bring out some unique video game titles into the market. Only time will tell, but what do you think of Microsoft’s latest move to flesh out their IPs for this next-generation of gaming?
