Microsoft is buying the massive game publisher behind franchises like "Fallout," "The Elder Scrolls," and "Doom" in a deal worth $7.5 billion in cash, the company announced on Monday.
The deal for the conglomerate ZeniMax Media and its games publisher Bethesda Softworks will incorporate several major video-game-development studios under Microsoft's Xbox Studios umbrella, as well as the major game franchises they oversee.
Bethesda Softworks oversees the studios ID Software ("Doom"), Bethesda Game Studios ("Fallout," "The Elder Scrolls," "Starfield"), Arkane Studios ("Dishonored," "Deathloop"), and MachineGames ("Wolfenstein").
"As a proven game developer and publisher, Bethesda has seen success across every category of games," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in the press release. "And together, we will further our ambition to empower the more than three billion gamers worldwide."
The announcement came one day before preorders open for Microsoft's next-gen Xbox consoles, the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, scheduled to arrive this November. This acquisition is intended to make the new consoles more enticing.
All the games included in the deal will head to Microsoft's gaming subscription service, Xbox Game Pass. Moreover, upcoming games from those studios will launch on Game Pass.
The deal "includes Microsoft's intent to bring Bethesda's future games into Xbox Game Pass the same day they launch on Xbox or PC, like 'Starfield,' the highly anticipated, new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios," the press release said.
Microsoft has purchased several game studios since buying the Swedish studio behind "Minecraft" in 2014 for $2.5 billion.
Notably, Bethesda Softworks publishes games across both Microsoft's and Sony's gaming platforms. It is unclear whether future games from the publisher will still come to Sony's PlayStation consoles. A Microsoft representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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