Sony fik for alvor rettet spotlightet tilbage på PS5 med deres imponerende showcase, men nu svarer Microsoft igen. Og de har haft den helt store pengepung fremme.
Den Seattlebaserede teknologivirksomhed meddeller i en pressemeddelelse, at de vil overtage ZeniMax Media, der ejer Bethesda, for intet mindre end $7,5 milliarder dollars. Bethesda er selvfølgelig kendt som udvikleren bag Fallout og Elder Scrolls. Serier der nu ser ud til at blive Xbox-ekslusive.
"Quality differentiated content is the engine behind the growth and value of Xbox Game Pass—from Minecraft to Flight Simulator. As a proven game developer and publisher, Bethesda has seen success across every category of games, and together, we will further our ambition to empower the more than three billion gamers worldwide," fortæller Satya Nadella, CEO i Microsoft.
ZeniMax har over 2300 medarbehder og ejer også udviklerne Arkane og id Software. DOOM, Quake, Wolfenstein og Dishonored har finder derfor også et nyt hjem i Microsoft.
"This is a thrilling day for this company, our employees, and our fans. We have enjoyed a close partnership with Microsoft for decades, and this deal is a natural progression of those years working together," lyder det fra ZeniMax' bestyrelsesforman Robert A. Altman. "The big winners today are our fans. We are continuing to develop our slate of AAA games, but now with Microsoft's scale and entire Game Stack, our games can only get better."
Handlen skal selvfølgelig gennem de forskellige regulative godkendelser, inden den officielt er gennemført, men det her er noget af en game-changer.