Microsoft acquires ZeniMax Media (Bethesda, id Software, Arkane + 5 more) [2020-09-21, 2021-03-09]

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BRiT said:
The Vault company won't exist after the merger. It's there only to facilitate limiting legal liability.
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The EU can insist, vis-à-vis other conditions, that for the purpose of approval the merger will take place over a period of no less than 10 years. Or 12 months. Or three blue moons. This locks in the conditions during which they can walk-back any approval granted in principle should they feel any condition not be met.

For the EU, this is safer than approving then fining the acquirer for non-compliance because penalty that party does not undo any perceived damage done to the market. No idea if this is the case here, this doesn't look like a massive deal from the perspective of video gamers market but the EU clearly has something on their minds hence the invitation for third parties to comments.
 
Hoeg Law video explaining the reverse triangular merger setup for Microsoft and Zenimax Media.

Mergers and acquisitions. It's easy enough to assume that when a company like Microsoft says it's going to "buy" Zenimax, then it's just the simple matter of wiring the right amount of money into the right shareholder accounts, but...the law is never quite so simple.
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cheapchips said:
The SEC have approved the merger. The EU still needs to approve.
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Did the SEC invite evidence/comment like the EU did? If not, is that normal or is that implicitly part of the process? Not being American, some aspects of the American Governmental system seems a bit whack, especially when it comes to regulation - I think this is the case for a lot of Europeans.

I thought we would have heard the EU decision by now, it was due yesterday.
 
DSoup said:
Did the SEC invite evidence/comment like the EU did? If not, is that normal or is that implicitly part of the process? Not being American, some aspects of the American Governmental system seems a bit whack, especially when it comes to regulation - I think this is the case for a lot of Europeans.

I thought we would have heard the EU decision by now, it was due yesterday.
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I'm not American either. I think the SEC just observe while MS burn their logo into Bethesda head office with a cattle brand and it's job done?

The EU part was sailing through but I can't see anything more up to date. I'm sure we'll hear soon.
 
Spencer Just emailed everyone.

He says and I quote

"We have made a commitment to the Global Xbox community to expand our first party game development. With this acquisition , we now have the most creative and highest-quality line-up of studios in our history. Xbox Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox players on console, PC and mobile. We will also continue to support the fantastic Bethesda communities and fans across their current respective platforms."
 
Full thing is on Xbox Wire...

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/03/09/officially-welcoming-bethesda-to-the-xbox-family/

Officially Welcoming Bethesda to Team Xbox
by Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox • Mar 9, 2021 @ 6:30am

Publisher of iconic gaming franchises will expand Xbox’s diverse portfolio on Xbox Game Pass

This is an exciting day for Xbox. Today we officially complete the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks. It’s an honor to welcome the eight incredibly talented development studios – Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios – and their passionate global communities to the Xbox family. Now that everything is official, we can begin working together to deliver more great games to everyone. At every step building toward this moment, I’ve been inspired and motivated by the creativity, insight, and community-first approach of the talented people at Bethesda. Our goal is to give these teams the best foundation for doing their greatest work and to learn from them as we continue to build Xbox into an inclusive platform for all players.

This is the next step in building an industry-leading first party studios team, a commitment we have to our Xbox community. With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.

As we shared previously, it’s vitally important that Bethesda continues making games the way it always has. We look forward to empowering Bethesda’s creative teams to reach even more players around the world, helping make future Bethesda titles the biggest and most popular games in their history. Xbox and Bethesda have long shared a common vision for the future of gaming. Both as fans and as creators, Bethesda understands the potential of Xbox Game Pass.

We would also like to honor the life and memory of my close friend Robert A. Altman, founder of ZeniMax Media. Robert believed deeply in the power of gaming and we are privileged to be able to continue his work by joining forces with the teams he built and led for many years. I will miss the opportunity to work directly with him on the future of our combined teams but I know that his spirit will live on in the shared work we do and motivate us to make this partnership all he envisioned.

Thank you to all our players for joining us on this incredible journey and to the millions of Bethesda fans around the world. Now that we’re one team, we can start working together on the future ahead. We will have more to share about what’s next for our teams later this year. In the meantime, to properly celebrate this special moment, we are bringing additional Bethesda games into Xbox Game Pass later this week. Stay tuned for more details!
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Tommy McClain
 
I was going to suggest that microsoft should consider buying reality capture, which is the market leader in photogrammetry, as it would compliment both their game stack and efforts to better support the movie/tv production industry, however Epic acquired them today.

RealityCapture: Mapping and 3D Modeling Photogrammetry Software - CapturingReality.com

I know its a bit rich as a microsoft fan to spring to 'are they being anti-competitive' but all these acquisitions by epic are really making a substantial moat that other companies in the game engine space will have to cross to make any headway into becoming a competitor to unreal.

In that vein I think microsoft should look to acquire sidefx, who make Houdini among other things. Aside from Houdini, which would be good for game stack overall, it would also get them PilotPDG which is an asset pipeline mangement software, which allows multiple pieces of software (including third party) to be connected together in a node based manner. It could really be the glue that pulls all of microsofts game stack into a more cohesive experience.

Many of microsofts studios (if not nearly all) use houdini already so there would be some synergy there I suppose. Plus Epic recently completed a minority investment into sidefx, so if I were microsoft I would acquire them before Epic does
 
That announcement says to me:

  1. New titles like ES6 and Starfield will not be available on other platforms
  2. Modding will likely be very basic and likely Creation Club-style only

When Skyrim is available on GamePass PC it will certainly be an indicator of what's possible and what isn't. A big driver is going to be able to monetize modding IMO.
 
Malo said:
That announcement says to me:

  1. New titles like ES6 and Starfield will not be available on other platforms
  2. Modding will likely be very basic and likely Creation Club-style only

When Skyrim is available on GamePass PC it will certainly be an indicator of what's possible and what isn't. A big driver is going to be able to monetize modding IMO.
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Like I've said for awhile . I think it just depends on the contracts signed already by Bethesda. I think MS will honor all those because it will open them up to lawsuits. But the titles that are far enough out that nothing has been signed. Well those will be exclusive. If those are 2022 titles or 2023 or what have you I don't know
 
The wording reinforces to me that the tiers of games and their exclusivity reads as such.

Online games like ESO and Fallout 76 will remain mulitplatform.

Deathloop and Ghostwire Toyko will honor their pre-existing contracts. Remains to be seen if Indiana Jones is mulitplatform.

Everything else is PC, Xbox and Xcloud.
 
If that's the case, then they should have said "most" instead of "some". The latter doesn't instill much confidence.

Tommy McClain
 
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