Microsoft recently shook the game world with its acquisition of one of the world’s biggest video game companies, Bethesda.
Back in September, Microsoft announced the purchase of Bethesda along with its numerous development studios and franchises. Needless to say, the news is a big deal. Plus, the takeover raised the question of what would happen to franchises like Dishonored, Doom, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, and Quake.
The chief financial officer for Xbox, Tim Stuart, wants to reassure fans that Microsoft is not just pulling out support for PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. In fact, Bethesda recently confirmed that Deathloop launches in May 2021 as a PS5 console exclusive.
According to PC Gamer, Stuart made the following comments at the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment conference:
When asked whether the strategy going forth would be to make Bethesda games Xbox- and PC-exclusive or whether Microsoft would still support cross-platform play, Stuart said Microsoft doesn’t have intentions “of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise.”
“We highly encourage cross-platform play, simply from this landscape of, if it’s good for the gaming ecosystem, it’s good for us, classic rising tide lifts all boats,” Stuart said. Instead, Microsoft’s plan is to offer the best possible experience with a Bethesda game on its own platforms.
“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. […] 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.”
You can find a transcript of the conversation at Seeking Alpha.
