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Bethesda is now officially under the Xbox banner.

Back in September of last year, Microsoft announced that it was in dealings with ZeniMax Media for a formal acquisition and merger of their brands. One of the most prolific brands under ZeniMax’s banner is video game publisher Bethesda, known primarily for the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series of games. As of today, those series are now the property of Microsoft and Xbox.


After receiving formal approval from the European Commission, Microsoft and ZeniMax have officially completed their deal. ZeniMax has joined Microsoft’s brands for a $7.5 billion paycheck.

“Now that everything is official, we can begin working together to deliver more great games to everyone” Xbox Head Phil Spencer said in a blog post. “At every step building toward this moment, I’ve been inspired and motivated by the creativity, insight, and community-first approach of the talented people at Bethesda. Our goal is to give these teams the best foundation for doing their greatest work and to learn from them as we continue to build Xbox into an inclusive platform for all players.”

“As we’ve all shared, the expectation is that Bethesda Softworks and our studios will continue as we have in the past, just with more support and resources than we’ve ever had before,” said Pete Hines, SVP of PR and Marketing at Bethesda, in a separate post. “Obviously, Game Pass has been an important initiative for Xbox, and we’ll be working on putting even more of our games into Game Pass than ever before. Beyond that? Stay tuned, we’re just getting started together.”

Amid the excitement and congratulations, Spencer did make one important clarification about the future of games published by Bethesda and its sibling companies. “With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”