• Light/Dark

EU approves Zenimax acquisition by Microsoft

Status
Not open for further replies.
Reader mode
Xando

Xando

Member
Oct 28, 2017
27,833
Seems to be without any additional regulations or concerns

Competition case search

Searches for published decisions can be carried out under policy area, case number, title and date.
ec.europa.eu ec.europa.eu

Mergers: Commission clears acquisition of ZeniMax by Microsoft

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of ZeniMax Media Inc. by Microsoft Corporation, both of the U.S. ZeniMax is a company that develops and publishes games for personal computers ('PCs'), gaming consoles, and mobile devices. Microsoft is a global technology company, which develops, publishes, and distributes games for PCs, consoles, and mobile devices. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the combined entity's limited market position upstream and the presence of strong downstream competitors in the distribution of video games. The transaction was examined under the normal merger review procedure. More information is available on the Commission's competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.10001
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
ec.europa.eu

Press corner

Highlights, press releases and speeches
ec.europa.eu ec.europa.eu

www.theverge.com

EU approves Microsoft’s $7.5 billion Bethesda acquisition

The approval clears the way for Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass plans.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
Last edited:
Neural

Neural

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,820
Italy
Looking forward to read Microsoft's official statement on the merger. Interesting times ahead!
 

Deleted member 15973

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,172
1igj0v.gif
 
Samiya

Samiya

Alt Account
Banned
Nov 30, 2019
4,811
As expected. Hoping for the best for the industry and for those working at Zenimax. Mergers and acquisitions don't always have rosy long-term outcomes for the acquired company and its employees, but we will see how this pans out in the future.

With regard to acquisition approvals, I'm more curious how the Nvidia + Arm deal is going to be evaluated.
 
Kenzodielocke

Kenzodielocke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,925
Will we get information on how MS will handle Bethesda releases, or will they just say case by case basis?
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,716
Western Australia
Kenzodielocke said:
Will we get information on how MS will handle Bethesda releases, or will they just say case by case basis?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I suspect Spencer is going to be mealy-mouthed on that front until there are no longer any temporary exclusivity contracts in play.

Edit: Personally, I'm firmly of the belief that anybody telling themselves that Microsoft will make the occasional exception because of x/y/z is setting themselves up for nothing but disappointment. Fallout 76 and ESO will continue to receive new content across all platforms, and obviously the existing contracts with Sony will be honoured, but everything else is going to be exclusive to Xbox and PC.
 
Last edited:
theAllseeingEYE

theAllseeingEYE

Member
Apr 4, 2018
4,605
Vancouver, BC
Really hoping we start to see and hear more about what Bethesda has up thier sleeves soon.

On the other hand, I would not be sad if Bethesda took some of that sweet Microsoft loot, gavw thier teams some extra time and, and hired an army of the best engineers, designers, and artists to double down on making Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI look absolutely top tier.
 
Owlet

Owlet

Owl Enthusiast
Verified
May 30, 2018
1,942
London, UK
I wonder if Microsoft employee Todd Howard will make an appearance during the supposed acquisition details briefing.
 
texhnolyze

texhnolyze

Shinra Employee
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,469
Indonesia
So is it finally finalized yet for real or not?

With so many approvals this acquisition is going through, I wish there's a megathread instead, with all the progresses compiled in one place.
 
Kenzodielocke

Kenzodielocke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,925
Xando said:
I thought the rumor was they'll have a march event to talk about the future of Bethesda?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
JaseC said:
I suspect Spencer is going to be mealy-mouthed on that front until there are no longer any temporary exclusivity contracts in play.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If this is true this clearly won't be a clear yes or no I think. Who knows. I just think it'd be dumb to have such a big userbase locked out of their games and I am not sure if enough of those people will buy Xbox consoles or move to PC, but what do I know. I don't even think MS has an answer as to how to handle Bethesda games tbh.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
44,398
theAllseeingEYE said:
Really hoping we start to see and hear more about what Bethesda has up thier sleeves soon.

On the other hand, I would not be sad if Bethesda took some of that sweet Microsoft loot, gavw thier teams some extra time and, and hired an army of the best engineers, designers, and artists to double down on making Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI look absolutely top tier.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I honestly hope they focus on other aspects like the open world, story and bugs. Bethesda games were never beautiful.

Kenzodielocke said:
If this is true this clearly won't be a clear yes or no I think. Who knows. I just think it'd be dumb to have such a big userbase locked out of their games and I am not sure if enough of those people will buy Xbox consoles or move to PC, but what do I know. I don't even think MS has an answer as to how to handle Bethesda games tbh.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Bethesda fanbase is mostly already on PC.
 
OP
OP
Xando

Xando

Member
Oct 28, 2017
27,833
texhnolyze said:
So is it finally finalized yet for real or not?

With so many approvals this acquisition is going through, I wish there's a megathread instead, with all the progresses compiled in one place.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It was approved on friday. The previous owner of zenimax had it listed as realized (as in all positions sold).

I'd say it's pretty much done. Only missing the PR.
 
Gay Bowser

Gay Bowser

Member
Oct 30, 2017
17,787
JaseC said:
I suspect Spencer is going to be mealy-mouthed on that front until there are no longer any temporary exclusivity contracts in play.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
They're not going to say anything about Ghostwire or Deathloop, but I could see a statement like "new Bethesda titles from 2022 onwards will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, PC, and Xbox Game Streaming." If that's the case, they're going to want to tell people, because they're going to want people to buy Xboxes instead of PS5s.

Also, you have a good avatar. Underrated movie.
 

Deleted member 10737

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
49,774
texhnolyze said:
With so many approvals this acquisition is going through, I wish there's a megathread instead, with all the progresses compiled in one place.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
there is
www.resetera.com

Xbox + Bethesda Acquisition Finalization Megathread (See Threadmarks)

https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?CIK=0000789019&action=getcompany " Notice of Effectiveness means a notice upon receipt of which the Seller effectively transfers to the Administrative Agent the exclusive control of the Controlled Account." The notice of effectiveness is a public...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
 
Lowrys

Lowrys

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,717
London
Kenzodielocke said:
If this is true this clearly won't be a clear yes or no I think. Who knows. I just think it'd be dumb to have such a big userbase locked out of their games
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Why would it be "dumb"? MS didn't buy Bethesda to make money off sales of Bethesda games. They want to capture more people in their ecosystem. IMO that's the only way the acquisition makes sense.
 
Neural

Neural

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,820
Italy
Kenzodielocke said:
Will we get information on how MS will handle Bethesda releases, or will they just say case by case basis?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Spencer already said it'll be case by case, so don't expect them coming out saying something like "every Bethesda game will be Xbox exclusive!". But I'm expecting them to start soon telling us which will be the first games falling under the "Xbox exclusive" case, like Starfield and TES VI. For the unannounced ones, they'll probably be clarified at the announcement time.
 
texhnolyze

texhnolyze

Shinra Employee
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,469
Indonesia
Okay, so what's left is only the PR? Got it, thanks.

mazi said:
there is
www.resetera.com

Xbox + Bethesda Acquisition Finalization Megathread (See Threadmarks)

https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?CIK=0000789019&action=getcompany " Notice of Effectiveness means a notice upon receipt of which the Seller effectively transfers to the Administrative Agent the exclusive control of the Controlled Account." The notice of effectiveness is a public...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Somehow it's the least active thread compared to the other news thread. Explains why I missed it.
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,716
Western Australia
Gay Bowser said:
They're not going to say anything about Ghostwire or Deathloop, but I could see a statement like "new Bethesda titles from 2022 onwards will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, PC, and Xbox Game Streaming." If that's the case, they're going to want to tell people, because they're going to want people to buy Xboxes instead of PS5s.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Oh, yeah, I certainly don't discount that possibility.

Also, you have a good avatar. Underrated movie.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

<3
 
theAllseeingEYE

theAllseeingEYE

Member
Apr 4, 2018
4,605
Vancouver, BC
Rosebud said:
I honestly hope they focus on other aspects like the open world, story and bugs. Bethesda games were never beautiful.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Absolutely,
I added designers in my post intending to hint that they should also focus on game design, but they could absolutely do well to hire more quality writers for side quests as well (I'm assuming they already have a good team focusing on the main narrative).

In reality, bolstering the quality of talent across the board would likely bring the best results. Having an even larger team of tech art/animation, larger animation team, and more engineers focused on animation, in order to improve animation quality across the board too, could surely make a huge impact on tye visual quality as well.
 
antispin

antispin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,805
I really hope the games aren't exclusive to PC/Xbox.

Related hopes:
  1. GP will eventually come to PS/Switch
  2. Steam on Xboxen
[/end hope]

I realize these might not make sense for the businesses involved, but I'm purely thinking as a consumer.
 
christocolus

christocolus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,937
nekkid said:
Six months later, and I'm still amazed that Microsoft now owns id.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
They got so much out of this deal. The talent, IPs, the game engines, A new game publishing arm, The cloud tech...etc. In the future we could even see MS making more acquisitions under Bethesda publishing i.e studios that would be a better fit with Bethesda.
 
Reader mode
Status
Not open for further replies.