The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, stated in the latest roundtable that the Redmond company is pursuing the goal of strengthening the Xbox Game Pass with the exclusivity of Bethesda games. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Bethesda brands will stay away from other platforms from now on.
For many years now, Microsoft has endeavored to invest a lot of money in buying development studios and publishers. A total of $7.5 billion recently went into the takeover of ZeniMax Media and Bethesda. The goals that Microsoft is pursuing are no secret, as the Redmond company would like to expand the Xbox Game Pass, including the Xbox Cloud, into an offer that is noticed by more people than would be possible on the Xbox consoles.
After the takeover of ZeniMax and Bethesda, respectively, the Xbox boss underpinned the plans again and made a suggestion that could be viewed as an indication that PS5 players will have to forego most Bethesda games after fulfilling obligations. MMOs, existing contracts, and brands that have “a legacy” on other platforms seem to be an exception.
“I’m gonna try to be as clear as I can, because I just think it’s fair. So obviously I can’t sit here and say every Bethesda game is exclusive, because we know that’s not true. There’s contractual obligations that we’re going to see through as we always do in every one of these instances,” said the Xbox boss.
“There’s communities of players. We love those communities and we’ll continue to invest in them. And even in the future, there might be things that have either contractual things or legacy on different platforms that we’ll go do,” continued Spencer.
Spencer’s words could mean that well-known titles like The Elder Scrolls or Fallout will continue to appear on systems like the PS5. However, that is not certain, because the main goal is exclusivity. This does not mean pure exclusivity on the Xbox consoles, but availability in the Xbox Game Pass, which is to be offered on as many platforms as possible.
“If you’re an Xbox customer, the thing I want you to know is this is about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists, and that’s our goal. That’s why we’re doing this. That’s the root of this partnership that we’re building, and the creative capability we will be able to bring to market for our Xbox customers is going to be the best it’s ever been after we’re done here,” continued Spencer.