Microsoft's $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media approved by EU Commission

The purchase will see Microsoft take control of popular gaming IP including Fallout, Elder Scrolls and Doom.

Microsoft's $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media approved by EU Commission

Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media has been approved by the European Commission. The reported $7.5 billion deal for ZeniMax, who are the parent company of Fallout developers, Bethesda Softworks, was approved by the European Commission without conditions. 

In a statement, the Commission found that ‘the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the combined entity’s [ZeniMax Media] limited market position upstream and the presence of strong downstream competitors in the distribution of video games’. 

Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media required the EU’s approval before a deal with Bethesda could be finalised to bring their future titles to its own Xbox Game Pass subscription.

Microsoft will also acquire Bethesda’s sub-studios as part of the deal, which will take their total number of first-party studios to 23. As such, Microsoft will also own Arkane Studios, who developed the Dishonored series, Wolfenstein developers MachineGames, id Software, who popularised the first-person shooter genre with Doom, and The Evil Within developers Tango Gameworks.

Current plans appear to indicate that Microsoft will allow Bethesda to continue operating separately with its existing leadership. The company has utilised a similar procedure in the past with their previous acquisitions of Mojang, GitHub and LinkedIn, all of which operate independently of Microsoft. 

As for whether this means that future Bethesda titles will become Xbox exclusives, it’s not yet clear what Microsoft are planning. According to a statement made in September by Xbox gaming chief, Phil Spencer, future Bethesda titles will be assessed on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. It’s still unclear as to how the developer’s upcoming space epic Starfield will be released. 

Microsoft appears to be allocating more resources towards their Xbox Game Pass subscription as seen with the addition of EA Play in November 2020, which added a host of EA releases to their already existing catalogue. The subscription also has a number of Bethesda titles included already, such as The Elder Scrolls Online, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Fallout: New Vegas. All Xbox first-party games are added to Game Pass on launch day, and the prospect of new Bethesda releases being added to Xbox Game Pass as and when they are released may attract new subscribers.

Header Image Credit: Microsoft

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Ali Muzaffar

Ali Muzaffar Kickstart Team

Ali is a Trainee Journalist with Voice. He graduated from the University of Leeds in English Literature and maintains a strong interest in reading new books whenever possible. A self-professed film nut, Ali enjoys movies from a wide range of genres, although he can be counted on to gravitate towards thrillers or dramas!

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