The end of the year has been tense for the review process of the purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission of the United States (FTC) was the first regulator to make its attempted blockade official, arguing risk of monopoly and damage to the video game industry. According to the FTC, Microsoft’s true intentions can be seen behind the purchase of ZeniMax | Bethesda and today the company responded to it.
Microsoft: Bethesda’s next 3 games will be Xbox exclusives
Microsoft made public the response to the FTC (via CNBC) where it addresses different issues related to the acquisition and the reasons why the regulator seeks to block it. A few days ago, a controversy arose around it, with the FTC assuring that what Microsoft will do with Activision can be seen in what happened after the purchase of ZeniMax | Bethesda and even claimed that the company had assured the European Commission that it would not make Bethesda games exclusive if approved.
The reality is that Microsoft was referring to what had already been agreed, such as Ghostwire: Tokyo and not to what would come later, but its wording was ambiguous, a detail that was overlooked by the European Commission, which later responded to the FTC denying that such a commitment existed on the part of from the Xbox company.
Microsoft makes it clear to the FTC that not all of Bethesda’s catalog will be exclusive to Xbox
Well, this time, Microsoft was clear on what will happen to some Bethesda games in the coming years. In this regard, the company reports that the next 3 Bethesda games characterized by being single-player or can also be played by “small groups of people” will be exclusive to Xbox and PC within the brand’s ecosystem.
Namely, 2 of those games are Starfield and Redfall, both productions in development within Bethesda leaving the third game in doubt. The answer would seem obvious when considering The Elder Scrolls VI, but keep in mind that the company was referring to games that could also be played by “small groups of people”, not massive online titles as is expected to happen with the new installment. of this franchise although it is possible that it is a more compact proposal in terms of online gaming.
In this sense, Microsoft points out to the FTC that the best example that it has no intention of making everything that comes out of Bethesda exclusive is in Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls Online and even Minecraft, since they keep the games running on different platforms, They provide them with content and support and neither the company nor its Xbox brand meddles to give any advantage.