Microsoft just dropped a nuclear bomb on the gaming landscape this morning, announcing they’ve purchased Bethesda, publisher of games like Fallout, Skyrim, Doom, and Wolfenstein, for $7.5 billion. But wait, wasn’t Bethesda cozying up to Sony recently? The next two games on Bethesda’s publishing calendar, Arkane Studios’ Deathloop and Tango Gameworks’ horror game Ghostwire: Tokyo, are timed PS5 exclusives! What happens to them?
Well, according to Jason Schreier, who first broke the Bethesda sale story, Phil Spencer has said that the PS5 deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will stand, and that exclusivity for future Bethesda games will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
To answer the question everyone is asking: Phil Spencer tells @dinabass that Xbox plans to honor the PS5 exclusivity commitment for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Future Bethesda games will be on Xbox, PC, and "other consoles on a case by case basis." https://t.co/Agyttr53LO
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 21, 2020
Realistically, Microsoft probably has no choice. Just because they bought Bethesda doesn’t mean they can break the contract they previously signed with Sony. The timing of all this is certainly interesting – the fact that Bethesda was announcing PS5 exclusives just months ago would seem to indicate their sale was not something long in development. This was a snap puchase by Microsoft (or as much of a snap as a $7.5 billion transaction can be). On that subject, according to Kinda Funny’s Imran Khan, Sony was apparently negotiating with Bethesda for Starfield exclusivity within the last few months.
FUN NOTE: Sony had been negotiating timed exclusivity on Starfield as recently as a few months ago. Going to guess either those talks are done or the price suddenly went way, way up.
— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) September 21, 2020
What do you think? Will we being seeing more multiplatform Bethesda games going forward, or does Microsoft shut that down once Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo come out?
About the author: Professional writer of trivial things. Nathan has been covering games, entertainment, and online culture for over a decade with bylines at IGN, GameSpy, Cracked, Uproxx, ComicBook, and more. Joined Wccftech gaming team in 2017, and has written hundreds of game reviews and thousands of news stories since.
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