In one fell swoop, when Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media goes through, they will have brought some of the biggest franchises in the industry into the first party fold, including the likes of DOOM, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, Prey, and perhaps most crucially, heavyweights such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.
Of course, that does leave one to wonder what the nature of upcoming games such as Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 will be, especially with regards to availability on PlayStation consoles. Microsoft so far has said that that will be decided for all future Bethesda games on a case-by-case basis (though it’s not something they need to do to make good on their investment in the acquisition), while Bethesda themselves seem to want to make their games available to as many people as possible.
Either way, we don’t have a concrete answer yet (and probably won’t for a while). Speaking recently with GamesIndustry though, Bethesda’s Todd Howard hinted oh so slyly that upcoming heavyweights like The Elder Scrolls 6 might not be exclusive to Xbox.
In response to a remark that it’s hard to imagine Microsoft making The Elder Scrolls 6 available only on Xbox in the console market, Howard replied with a smile, “I would agree that is hard to imagine.” Interestingly enough, that is all he had to say.
Both Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 (especially the latter) are a ways off from launch, so questions of exclusivity for both are probably going to be around for a while. For what it’s worth, reports have suggested that prior to ZeniMax’s acquisitions talks with Microsoft, Bethesda had been approached by Sony for an exclusivity deal for Starfield. Read more on that through here.
