Microsoft - Buys Zenimax/Bethesda

Originally Posted by Nereida
Look, person insulting someone else's choices that don't affect them or have anything to do with them. What a strange thing.

Don’t see much insulting. More like poking fun at elitists. Relax and have a beer.

Originally Posted by Caddy
Don’t see much insulting. More like poking fun at elitists. Relax and have a beer.

We have a few of those here Some of us can get down in the gutter and read harry potter.

All things considered, they could have been bought by far worse companies.

Obisdian has doing good since the acquisition and Bethesda was doing absolutely nothing worth buying since the last TES, so I can expect only better games from this.

Originally Posted by Darkheart
To be honest, I buried my hopes for TES 6 a long time ago. The final nail in the coffin was Fallout 4. Singleplayer MMO….

Weird. I would expect someone to mention FO76 there. FO4 isn't nearly as bad as some people try to make it out to be, and I don't see the MMO connection.

Originally Posted by Telstar
Obisdian has doing good since the acquisition

??? The only thing Obsidian has even done since the acquisition is release Outer Worlds, which is one of their weakest RPGs ever. But it was in the works before they got bought anyway.

Bethesda was doing absolutely nothing worth buying since the last TES, so I can expect only better games from this.

Oblivion and Skyrim were terrible, Fallout 3 & 4 were dull but playable. Throw in Fallout 76 and they're pretty much rock bottom. I guess conventional wisdom would be that there's nowhere to go but up. But Bethesda always finds new ways to suck, so I'm not convinced.

But if this enables another New Vegas-like Fallout game from Obsidian, then I'm sold.

Originally Posted by Stingray
??? The only thing Obsidian has even done since the acquisition is release Outer Worlds, which is one of their weakest RPGs ever. But it was in the works before they got bought anyway.


Oblivion and Skyrim were terrible, Fallout 3 & 4 were dull but playable. Throw in Fallout 76 and they're pretty much rock bottom. I guess conventional wisdom would be that there's nowhere to go but up. But Bethesda always finds new ways to suck, so I'm not convinced.

But if this enables another New Vegas-like Fallout game from Obsidian, then I'm sold.

I loved skyrim.

I have to agree with Dark Heart's concerns. He could be right about where this is all heading in the future. Anyone remember that old DOS game called Syndicate where the world more or less became a global corporatocracy, and sinister global corporations fought each other(literally, not figuratively)for dominance? Imagine a corporation like Microsoft getting so powerful in the future, it has it's own army of special forces troops(with microchips in their necks, to keep them under control, according to the game lore) to literally attack rival corporations, and be able to get away with it? Might sound a bit far fetched in the present, but in the future…?

Originally Posted by sakichop
My main worry here is the future and modability of TES 6.

Games are insanely complex and for this reason alone, with time, the chance of any AAA game being modable drops significantly. Microsoft or not.

Originally Posted by Nereida
Microsoft has already gone through some lawsuits due to buying off competition and monopolising markets. Suppose they know well where the fringe is at this point, but it does seem to be heading that way.

That's factually incorrect. Antitrust hearing were about leveraging dominant position in one market (OS) to gain advantage in another (web browser and software development tech).

Originally Posted by The Hulk
I have to agree with Dark Heart's concerns. He could be right about where this is all heading in the future. Anyone remember that old DOS game called Syndicate where the world more or less became a global corporatocracy, and sinister global corporations fought each other(literally, not figuratively)for dominance? Imagine a corporation like Microsoft getting so powerful in the future, it has it's own army of special forces troops(with microchips in their necks, to keep them under control, according to the game lore) to literally attack rival corporations, and be able to get away with it? Might sound a bit far fetched in the present, but in the future…?

Forget Syndicate, read Snow Crash.

My replies in bullet-point style.

• Never thought Zenimax Media would ever be bought/sold.
• I'm 50/50 on this announcement time will tell if I'm wrong.
• Wonder if this has to do with all the negative PR/scandals with Fallout 76?
• New Vegas 2 is possible but there is bad blood between both studios.
• We all know feelings don't matter in business.
• I'm a PC only Gamer by choice, that doesn't make me an elitist.

There all done.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Weird. I would expect someone to mention FO76 there. FO4 isn't nearly as bad as some people try to make it out to be, and I don't see the MMO connection.

Annoying crafting. Recurring BS-quests (aka. grind). Dumbed down everything.

I tried to mod FO4 to get something I like as I did with every Beth game since Morrowind, but for FO4 it just wasn't possible. Maybe there are new mods now but meh, I'd rather give modded New Vegas another go.

Originally Posted by Drithius
The Emmy for most egregious over-exaggeration goes to…

Lol apparently tongue-in-cheek is lost on people. Not much I can do if people are unable to realize that was an on purpose exaggeration.

It was a shock to read it and that was my initial reaction. After reading more about it and digesting the information I decided it may not be as bad as first impressions led me to believe. It wasn't like EA brought them out at least.

EDIT: In addition that same post did say that I thought maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I admit it bothers me that a neutral post not aimed at anyone, with some tongue-in-check humor and a little jab at consoles (even though pretty much all my gaming friends own and use them), gets singled out for attacks … especially when I don't know how anyone could possibly think I was being serious that the worst thing to happen in 2020 was a game company buyout. I mean really? People thought I was serious? It never even occurred to me I should put a disclaimer at the bottom that I was joking.

Went and added a disclaimer to my first post since it was apparently needed.

Originally Posted by rune_74
I loved skyrim.

Me and millions of others did too. There so many people here who can’t accept that. It all comes down to an individual’s answer to one single question:

Originally Posted by Darkheart
Annoying crafting. Recurring BS-quests (aka. grind). Dumbed down everything.

None of those things are generally associated with just MMOs though.

Originally Posted by Darkheart
I tried to mod FO4 to get something I like as I did with every Beth game since Morrowind, but for FO4 it just wasn't possible.

Interesting. I found FO4 a lot easier to mod into something decent than Oblivion at least. I think I needed more mods with FO3 as well.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Yeah, I'm sure this is the first time you have seen my name. Whatever, you want to act all hurt and pretend you haven't done it to others that's on you. I don't care enough to bother with it anymore. I will however have no issue calling out BS.

First time I notice you for sure. Not saying you haven't been around, you're just unremarkable I guess. I'll still not touch a X'Box even if it's gifted, and if you don't like it, well, that's just too bad. You'll have to deal with it, or just made dumb posts refusing to believe that others might make different choices from yours. Whatever floats your boat.

Bethesda are pretty understaffed for the type of RPG they make as it stands now. They use 5-6 voice actors typically and a staff of 100 or so works on their games which always feel feature incomplete and buggy. With the acquisition Bethesda will be able to scale up production and testing of their games as required. They will have access to better writers and technology as required. Additionally Bethesda will be more motivated to pursue a strong single player offering for Microsoft's console.

As for things I don't like at present about Bethesda and whether or not they will continue. Paid mods is currently a thing and I expect to see the next generation of that. Fallout 76 multiplayer can easily be shoehorned onto the next single player offering ala Cyberpunk 2077 and its multiplayer product so I guess microtransactions will still be a thing. Perhaps with the various anti-lootbox laws emerging around the world Microsoft/Bethesda will be motivated to remove them, fingers crossed.

I think one of the major draws here for MS is that bethesda has a lot of long games they c an drop on Gamepass and have people sub for….making 15 dollars a month off of 15 million people right now….that can be expanded by more content that keeps them on the service will pay them a lot. The more they get subscribing the better they do. On top of this, you don't get the addons on game pass so you end up having to buy those and a lot of people do because FOMO.

On top of this, they have MS all access which gives you an xbox series x with game pass for 30 dollars a month for two years, which works out to be cheaper then doing it seperately….you get people in who don't want to put that large chunk of change down right away and keep them on the service for two years.

This is smart business.

Originally Posted by Nereida
First time I notice you for sure. Not saying you haven't been around, you're just unremarkable I guess. I'll still not touch a X'Box even if it's gifted, and if you don't like it, well, that's just too bad. You'll have to deal with it, or just made dumb posts refusing to believe that others might make different choices from yours. Whatever floats your boat.

Sorry I'm new here

I was reading more about the buyout and it cost Microsoft 7.5 Billion dollars. Damn thats a huge amount of cash but this gets them a few good studious, and a lot of their IP's.

Link - https://www.theverge.com/21449178/mi…xbox-game-pass

Microsoft is no longer playing the same game as Sony, and the Bethesda purchase may well make that point clearer than ever before. Sony has followed a tried-and-true strategy of acquiring promising developers and nurturing them over many years to produce large sequel-friendly franchises like Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn. It also maintains strong relationships with independent Japanese partners, like From Software and Square Enix, to help maintain its edge so that the new Final Fantasy game or a Demon’s Souls remake comes to PlayStation first.

Also I'm with rune about the GamePass games can't wait to play them.