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Bethesda Might Be the Least Vital Developer in Microsoft's ZeniMax Acquisition

Bethesda Might Be the Least Vital Developer in Microsoft's ZeniMax Acquisition

Microsoft recently made the biggest industry shake-up of 2020 with its acquisition of ZeniMax Media – the owners of Bethesda Game Studios. This alone is a huge head-turner, with Bethesda being the developer of some of gaming’s biggest IP, including the likes of Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. But it’s not the purchase of Bethesda itself that’s the biggest win for Microsoft; it’s actually the other talent that ZeniMax owns that’s more enticing for the Xbox brand as a whole.

This may seem like an odd assertion to make initially – after all, Bethesda is a much bigger name than the likes of Arkane Studios and Tango Gameworks, and Bethesda’s internally developed games have far more clout in today’s modern market than the IP from ZeniMax’s other subsidiaries, but it’s no secret that in recent years public perception has started to sour regarding Bethesda as a development studio.

fallout 76 just threw out months of goodwill in a single day

While Fallout 4 ended up being a huge commercial success, the critical reception was a little bit weaker than some of Bethesda’s previous notable titles. Fan reception was even more divisive, with many feeling varying degrees of disappointment with the weaker writing and more watered down RPG elements. Fallout 76 was an irrefutable flop, failing to gain any semblance of positivity due to its unacceptable lack of polish and myriad of other controversies surrounding its launch. The Elder Scrolls also hasn’t escaped scrutiny over the past few years, with seemingly almost everyone feeling worn down by the constant re-releases and Bethesda’s inability to move on from 2011’s Skyrim. 2019’s mobile game The Elder Scrolls: Blades also passed fans by without a second glance.

Further lessening the importance of Bethesda’s biggest IP within the context of the Microsoft acquisition is the fact that two Western RPG developers (Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment) have already been bought out by Microsoft, and have both released acclaimed RPG titles within the past year, with The Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3 respectively. While neither of these titles have come close to reaching the success of the likes of Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, they’ve already provided Xbox service users with meaty RPG adventures to sink their teeth into.

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Conversely, ZeniMax’s other studios are a great way for Microsoft to cover its current missing bases. Tango Gameworks being brought into the Xbox family marks the company’s first ownership of a Japanese studio, and with the differing cultural perspective, it will likely lead to some additional diversity in the approaches to game design. Arkane Studios’ Dishonored series and its 2017 Prey reboot have made the studio known as one of the leading developers in modern stealth games and immersive sims. id Software and MachineGames have garnered widespread critical acclaim for their recent installments within the DOOM and Wolfenstein franchises respectively, making their single-player-focused shooters a great alternative to Microsoft’s own multiplayer juggernaut Halo.

Microsoft’s recent acquisition of ZeniMax Media isn’t just a way for the company to get its hands on some of the industry’s biggest names, it’s a way for Microsoft to cleverly diversify its library of titles and range of genres with a batch of well-respected studios. Diversifying the genres that Microsoft is known for with high-quality releases will quite possibly do even more for the brand as a whole than just simply nabbing big names such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls – especially when those names have lost some of their respect with fans over recent years.

Francis Kenna

Francis Kenna

Staff Writer

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