Microsoft Now Owns Bethesda Softworks

You read that right. Microsoft, the company that owns and publishes the Xbox platform, has bought ZeniMax Media, and through that, now owns Bethesda Softworks.

Today is a special day, as we welcome some of the most accomplished studios in the games industry to Xbox. We are thrilled to announce Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks.

The full statement from Phil Spencer can be found here, and while I recommend you go there and give it a read, it is more or less Xbox marketing speak for “we are excited to be working together with Bethesda to bring more experiences to the Xbox platform.”

Of course, this is still the same Phil Spencer who has gone on record saying that they believe that exclusivity is “completely counter to what gaming is about…” So, we can hope that this will not affect future exclusive titles, and that this will only help bolster Bethesda games. Maybe Microsoft can finally get them to use a new engine for the next Elder Scrolls game? Hey, a guy can dream…