Microsoft Grabs Disney ZeniMax for $7.5 billion

In this article, I’m going to discuss Microsoft Grabs Disney ZeniMax for $7.5 Billion. If you are interested to get informative knowledge, this article is going to be very helpful for you.

The video game industry is exploding in popularity. Mainly helped by the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced much of the world to remain indoors and find online entertainment. About 2.7 billion people are expecting to play a game this year. According to the gaming market researcher Newzoo, gamers worldwide are expected to spend nearly $160 billion in 2020. Microsoft’s online gaming business and Xbox sales are multiplying.

Microsoft is an American Multinational Company ranked No. 21 within the 2020 Fortune. And now the news is spreading that Microsoft is buying Bethesda. It seems that gaming franchises, such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and DOOM, among many more, will soon be owned by Microsoft. It has been announced on Monday that it’s slated to purchase Disney ZeniMax Media. It’s the parent company of video game publisher Bethesda Softworks, for a whopping $7.5 billion more than Disney ZeniMax paid for Lucasfilm. This company owned the Star Wars franchise. Microsoft said it’s buying Bethesda partially to strengthen its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. It has over 15 million subscribers. Disney ZeniMax Bethesda games, like Starfield, which is currently in development, will launch on Xbox Game Pass an equivalent day on Xbox or computers, Microsoft said.

Disney ZeniMax Bethesda

Disney ZeniMax Bethesda ranks third in a list of Microsoft’s largest acquisitions. According to GeekWire: Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion in 2012 and LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2017. According to The New York Times, Microsoft owns 23 game studios and Sony, one of its biggest competitors, owns 15. Moreover, for years Sony owned more game studios than its the biggest competitor. But last year, Microsoft passed Sony, holding 15 studios to Sony’s 14. On Monday, the deal increased Microsoft’s lead to 23 game studios and gave it control over some of the world’s most popular franchises. Bethesda, a beautiful, unique feather, is now in the company’s enormous cap. 

Challenges for Disney ZeniMax

Microsoft’s eagerness to purchase game studios and other companies make the company seem more and more like a monopoly every year. Trusts are rarely in the consumers’ best interest, but  still has lots of competition, at least for now, as PC Gamer reports. From now on, classic Disney ZeniMax Bethesda game franchises to release in the future will likely be Xbox exclusives. Microsoft has new consoles debuting on Nov. 10, the Xbox Series X, and the stripped-down Series S version, which will cross swords against Sony’s new PlayStation 5 console.

R.W. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said the deal is a component of a broader industry trend of consolidation. On the other hand Microsoft already owns studios that make popular games, including Minecraft and, therefore, the Halo franchise. “We believe the deal checks tons of boxes for Microsoft, like strengthening the Xbox/Games division product portfolio as competition increases & boosting the profile of Xbox subscription services.”, he wrote in a financier note.

Next in Gaming

Additionally, Sony’s PSS, which will be released on Nov. 12, will cost $499. At that price, consumers might as well purchase gaming PCs and seldom have to worry about re buying a console. The high cost of the PS5, the economic recession, and Microsoft’s purchase of Disney ZeniMax Bethesda will likely decline Sony sales big time. Microsoft did not say how many of it’s newly acquired games would be exclusive to the Xbox, but pointed to the remarks of Phil Spencer. The company’s executive vice president of gaming, was saying in an interview with Bloomberg that games would be available to other consoles on a “case-by-case basis.” The acquisition was a “major coup” for Microsoft, said Piers Harding-Rolls.He is a research director at Ampere Analysis, an analytics firm in London. “This deal catapults Microsoft’s games portfolio into a way stronger position,” he said.

Microsoft Corp., which was predicated in Redmond, Washington, expects the deal to shut within the last half of fiscal 2021. The agreement represents a shift in focus for Microsoft. A business technology company, with most of its revenue coming from productivity and communications software and cloud computing services sold over the internet. Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda is a profound change in the gaming industry.