Microsoft Splashes $10 Billion To Buy Gaming Company

Days out from the roll out of a new Xbox gaming console Microsoft has forked out $10.3 Billion to buy another gaming Company, the Companies shares fell on the news.

The big US software Company said that they plan to acquire ZeniMax Media, owner of the video-game publisher Bethesda Softworks, marking its biggest video game purchase ever.

Back in 2014 Microsoft acquired Minecraft for $3.46 Billion.

Bethesda is the publisher of games such as The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout and also has at least two titles slated for debut next year.

ZeniMax, owns several other studios around the world.

“With the acquisition of Bethesda, we metaphorically and literally double our gaming content capacity,” said Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella in an interview.

Microsoft is hoping to get a return on their investment via its game subscription service, Game Pass, to draw in users and boost revenue and needs compelling content to attract customers to that product. Microsoft said Game Pass now has 15 million subscribers, up from the 10 million it announced in April.

“Bethesda’s games have always had a special place on Xbox and in the hearts of millions of gamers around the world,” said Xbox chief Phil Spencer in a blog post. “Our teams have a close and storied history working together.”

According to Bloomberg Bethesda has been working more closely with Sony during the past 18 months.

Bethesda had previously agreed to debut two of its upcoming games, Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, on Sony’s new PlayStation rather than Xbox. Both games were announced as “timed console exclusives,” meaning that they would be restricted to the PlayStation 5 for a fixed period of time before coming to Xbox.

Microsoft will keep that commitment, Spencer said in an interview.

Future games, like Starfield, will be available for Xbox, PC and Microsoft’s Game Pass video-game service. “We’ll take other consoles on a case-by-case basis,” Spencer said.

Nadella said Microsoft may consider releasing games on other platforms in the future. “When we think about strategy whether it’s in gaming or any other part of Microsoft, each layer has to stand on its own for what it brings. When we talk about our content, we want our content to be broadly available.”

Microsoft expects the deal to close in the second half of its fiscal year 2021, which ends June 30, and to have “minimal” impact on its adjusted operating income for the current and next fiscal years. The shares were down 1.1% to $198.18 at 11:11 a.m. in New York.

About Post Author

David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.