Yesterday, Microsoft acquired Zenimax Media and all its subsidiaries, including Bethesda Softworks and all their internal studios and properties. Many fans wondered if Microsoft would stop there, or if there were future acquisitions on the horizon. We’ve learned today that Microsoft is apparently going to buy up more game developers.
Xbox head Phil Spencer noted (via Cnet) they will “consider buying even more video game companies in the future,” and elaborated why they keep investing in their Xbox Game Pass subscription platform, which offers users unlimited access to all games currently on the platform.
“Content is just the incredible ingredient to our platform that we continue to invest in,” Spencer said in the interview. “This doubles the size of our creative organization.”
Spencer also pointed out that with the Bethesda acquisition, this means all of their games will be offered on Game Pass, which means they’ll available the same time they would hit store shelves. Furthermore, the games will also be available to stream through Microsoft’s new xCloud streaming service, letting users play games over the internet, like how you’d stream movies or TV.
“This is a huge investment in games that they’re going to get to play,” he said. Spencer also noted that Bethesda will “run semi-independently,” in the hopes that the company will keep building the same kind of games that have made them successful. “It is about the culture of those teams,” he said. “They’re not about becoming us.”