No, I am really sorry. Buying a developer after your competitor buys up seven, is nowhere near the same caliber as buying 7 studios and then a major publisher. Any double standards that were present at the Insomniac acquisition pale in comparison to this abomination of a deal.

Anyone who pretends this is in any way shape or form a positive step does not see the icy slope in front of us. They literally bought 14 studios instead of building up new ones, or actually invest in fledging low-level devs. Microsoft clearly shows their intent to pretty much buy themselves into an industry without any creative or visionary input, and kill off any competition if possible. But hey, if you are fine with that then more power to you

When are we expecting Starfield, Fallout or TES? We only got one Fallout game last generation (not counting the abomination that was Fallout 76) & the Elder Scrolls MMO. I don't see this trend changing this generation when games take longer and budgets are higher. Maybe Obsidian tackles another Fallout title after Avowed.

It looks like this Zenimax acquisition won't really bear fruit until 2023+. Although, by that time, Xbox Games Studios will be firing on all cylinders.

I hope this teaches sony a lesson about buying timed exclusives to keep xbox users from them they didn't need to keep us from the new final fantasy but they did so maybe microsoft should do the same with doom fallout and elder scrolls...

I'm not talking about a spin-off, I'm talking about the main series.  They can make as many spin-offs by other studios as they want, I don't give a damn.

I still doubt it but I'll guess we'll see. 

Wouldn't it be cheaper to make a deal for something like the next Fallout to be on Games Pass, rather than buying all of Bethesda, if they weren't going to keep them exclusive to Xbox/PC. 

Well I really enjoyed playing Fallout and Elder Scrolls on console, guess it's PC now. Thank goodness that still appears to be an option, otherwise I'd be looking into buying a series X.

Impressive move, 'soft. Shame the stock price didn't move an inch on the news.

I like the first part, gives me hope.

The ingame Fallout 4 mod options are completely limited and pathetic. You can't even run a Fallout Script Extender in an Xbox One copy of Fallout 4. You go to the Nexus and see everywhere Xbox users begging on their knees for ports of mods for Xbox One the console can't even run.

I'm only spending $120 a year on a seemingly ever expanding list of Gamepass games I would have bought for $60+ dollars each, saving hundreds of dollars a year. Anti consumer? This consumer will have more money in his bank account thanks to Microsoft buying these studios. At this rate, I hope Microsoft buys Nintendo (my preferred device). They could charge $50 a month then and I'd still save money lol. This is the golden age for consumers who want to save money!

Game Pass boost digital sales and MS makes more money from digial sales that is an increase in revenue due to gamepass.  Plus I'm pretty sure they get a nice percentage from when people that have Game Pass end up buying some of the games on it digital the same deal applies for the paid DLC for  Game Pass games.  Also most of the games on Game Pass where already profitable before they got added to it so it doesn't cost MS a lot to add those to Game Pass.

Did nothing with it? They made back their investment and then some. You need to look back at your gaming History, when Microsoft bought Mojang the PS4 was outselling Xbox One at a 2 to 1 ratio. It would have been a very bad financial move to remove the game from Sony's console.

On the other hand, this acquisition came at the start of the generation were having time exclusive games on the Xbox Series console can actually make a difference. On the bright side for PS5 owners, I don't think Microsoft will really push for truth exclusive anymore. Once a game saturates the Xbox market and PC market they can release the game at $69.99 on Sony consoles.