Image: The Elder Scrolls Online
Now that Microsoft is acquiring Bethesda, speculation arose with how the studio operate. While Microsoft pledged Bethesda will remain “semi-independent”, an Xbox boss has said future Bethesda games will be “first or better or best” on PC and Xbox, at the very least.
“We don’t have intentions of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise,” Xbox CFO Tim Stuart said (via Seeking Alpha) during the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment Virtual Conference, which was held on November 12th.
He added, “What we’ll do in the long run is we don’t have intentions of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise. But what we want is we want that content, in the long run, to be either first or better or best or pick your differentiated experience, on our platforms. We will want Bethesda content to show up the best as — on our platforms.”
Stuart closed with another note that they’re not looking to be totally exclusive, that Xbox is envisioning a future where Xbox Game Pass is the cornerstone to their offerings.
“That’s not a point about being exclusive. That’s not a point about we’re being — adjusting timing or content or road map,” he said. “But if you think about something like Game Pass, if it shows up best in Game Pass, that’s what we want to see, and we want to drive our Game Pass subscriber base through that Bethesda pipeline.”
“So again, I’m not announcing pulling content from platforms one way or the other. But I suspect you’ll continue to see us shift towards a first or better or best approach on our platforms,” Stuart said.
