Back in September last year, Microsoft announced that it will acquire Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media. Many thought that, as a result, some of the publisher’s IP will become exclusives to the former’s platforms. At the time, Xbox head Phil Spencer said that this will be examined on a case-by-case basis. Now, the company has confirmed that indeed not all games will be available on the PS5.
This follows the green light being given to the acquisition by the US and the EU. Spencer says that this is “the next step in building an industry-leading first-party studios team”. Though it’s not clear if this only applies to new IPs, or if new entries of ongoing series will also potentially be platform exclusives.
Ultimately, this should not come as a surprise. After all, the entire reason a company will spend US$7.5 billion in acquiring another is to bolster their first-party lineup. It would make little sense to spend that sort of money and not have any exclusives to show for it.
But as long as Xbox game all ultimately end up on PC, then it’s no real loss for us. After all, Xbox has no official presence in Malaysia, and our only real access to their games is via PC.
(Source: Microsoft)
