What is my theory?  Please let me know because I didn't know I had one.

I'm really confused here. Are you telling me you didn't have any reasoning for why MS released Minecraft in the post you created? What's going on here? Listen I don't understand what kind of game you are playing with your post if your trolling or what. I've laid out my thoughts on the possibility of some of the games still going exclusive. I'm moving on.

MS did not release Minecraft on PS4 Mojang did.  MS released Minecraft Dungeons on PS4.  Two different companies, two different games.  I can see where you are confused.  I never stated that Microsoft would not release future Minecraft games or future Bethesda/Zenimax on PS5, I just said that they were not obligated to do such.  Hopefully that clears it up for you.  

I think they are not saying anything because they actually don't know what they are going to be doing yet with regards to exclusivity.

But the lack of exclusive announcements seems to be a lack of confidence in the new hardware. If PS5 outsells Series X and S by the same margin that PS4 outsold Xbox One, then I highly doubt any of the big Bethesda IP will be exclusive as that will be a major own goal essentially.

On the flip side, it amazes me that people seem to think this move by MS was motivated by "console wars". Most casuals dont even know who the hell owns what. MS could have made this a HUGE thing if they included it in one of their press conferences by outright announcing exclusivity on an actual game. They chose not to.

Unless they actually do that, I'm willing to bet that MS has full confidence in gamepass and zero confidence in Series X/S or hardware in general.

The arguments in this thread...

This is something I think is one of the main things. I have a feeling they aren't even 100% sure what they will do and a lot of it will depend on what happens in the coming monthsyears.

I think your right about the hardware and I think that's the #1 reason they decided to start moving into PC gaming as well. Their whole strategy is gamepass and I think they realize it can't work just with Xbox hardware and mobile phones. That wont be enough. They need PC gamers as well to increase their gamepass subscriptions and make all of this profitable.

Well, If what you're looking for is a line from Phil Spencer where he says: "No, TES 6 won't be coming to PS5" then I'm afraid you will never hear it. So I guess we're going to have to keep waiting on this one, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

There's no proof that, that has anything to do with it. They had no problem saying everything was going to gamepass. They had no problem saying they would be honoring the Sony contracts. They had no problem saying they would take it on a case by case basis. Outright saying everything will be exclusive though is something they just possibly can't do?

Imagine the utter rage and meltdowns of Xbox fans if Sony had actually bought Bethesda. Lol we'd be seeing posts in all caps left and right. Meanwhile the opposite has happened and PS users seem to be taking it in stride. Perhaps that will change if MS makes Bethesda games exclusive, but I don't see MS doing that.

Should probably get some glasses and re-read the threads. Theres been a lot of insecure posts after this acquisition, most Bethesda games will not come to PS, just have to man up and deal with it. MS is building gamepass and thats where this will fill in, if you think a company is willing to spend 7.5bn for their service just to release it on another platform you are truely clueless. That much money is very little to MS, they can happily take the hit short term to create their plan long term. Unlike sony who would absolutely need to release games multiplatform after an acquisition that big or risk going under.