Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media and subsidiaryBethesdais major news. WithBethesdabeing one of the biggest western publishers in the world, making major games in franchises likeThe Elder Scrolls,Fallout, there’s been a lot of speculation and worry about the future. Namely, PlayStation gamers are worried that they won’t be able to play Bethesda’s games on PS5 for the next generation of consoles. At least one analyst believes PlayStation fans may not have to worry, though – to start.
Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter had something to say about the subject. Speaking to GamingBolt, Pachter broke down the acquisition and what it means for both Xbox fans and PlayStation fans. Pachter isn’t making any grandiose predictions about Microsoft deciding to continue supporting PlayStation, however. Rather, he simply believes that it might be too late to change launch plans forBethesda’s next game,Starfield.
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Pachter says “it will probably be on both platforms,” referring to bothXbox Series X and PlayStation 5. He says that this is because he believesStarfieldis coming out soon and that “deals” may already be in place for the game’s launch on PS5. He doesn’t expand on what deals he’s referring to, but ZeniMax is well known to partner with Sony for various exclusivity or advertising partnerships. If such a deal were in place, Microsoft would be contractually obligated to fulfill it. And Sony would obviously be silly to renege on such a contract.
BeyondStarfield, however, Pachter doesn’t see much of a future for Bethesda or otherZeniMax titles on PlayStation platforms. “It’s really going to be new games coming in 2021 that will be exclusive,” he states, noting an exception for games that are already planned for PlayStation. The nextElder Scrollsgame, however, could shift a lot of PlayStation gamers to Xbox. Pachter says that he believes as many as “2-4 million who would otherwise have owned PlayStation will now own Xbox.”
As for ZeniMax’s back catalog of games, Pachter doesn’t see the current status quo changing. He says this his guess is that all of those games will continue to be playable and available to purchase on PlayStation. He specifically mentionsFallout,Wolfenstein, andDoomin this context. But he also believes that these games will eventually come to Game Pass, much likeDoom Eternalwhich was announced this past week.
But Pachter does make one more interesting claim. He thinks that the acquisition of ZeniMax and Bethesda by Microsoft won’t have as much of an impact as some think it might, at least in the immediate. It’ll only be when Bethesda starts putting out games in 2021 and beyond that Xbox will start seeing the effects of its acquisition. How that impacts Microsoft’s decisionmaking over the next year and theXbox Series X’s launch will be interesting to see. Meanwhile,Bethesdagets to focus on making games.
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