Microsoft Won't Touch Bethesda’s Publishing Services, Studios Have Creative Freedom - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 June 2021 / 2,863 Views
Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty has in an interview with Le Figaro said that Microsoft will not touch Bethesda’s publishing services. This includes marketing, sales, communication, overseas offices, and more.
Booty also said that studios have creative freedom. This includes the studios under ZeniMax and all other studios acquired by Xbox. Microsoft doesn't want its first-party studios to develop games based on what might be the most succesful on on Game Pass.
He did admit that COVID has impacted the development of games from Xbox Game Studios.
Thanks, Reddit.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
More Articles
its gonna be interesting to see how many people here are going to read this as Bethesda being able to publish their games on PS/Nintendo etc
Is it not? It seems like that's what could happen.
No it won't.
It is not uncommon to keep businesses somewhat independent, thereby retaining the ability to easily sell the business later. So, by leaving Bethesda mostly alone, they could theoretically sell the publishing business and keep whatever studios they want.
I'm not saying that they will do this. I'm just giving one of many possible examples as they why MS may not fully integrate the companies, or at least some parts of them.
So now I want to know what they think "might be the most successful on on Game Pass."
This is what Pete Hines said back when the deal was closed, Bethesda will still act as a Publisher for their own games.
Sounds like the Bethesda Purchase was in fact a response to Sony purchasing Insomniac with 2 games ready to go in the midst of COVID while Xbox Games Studios has been impacted and games have been delayed. Bethesda being a hopeful purchase with numerous studios already working on projects. I would assume with resources still working on Deathloop and Tokyo Ghostwire other Bethesda games are feeling that impact. At some point though Microsoft will have an adequate amount of 1ST Party Exclusives to put onto GamePass to give it even more worth. As a PS5 owner and a fan of their console this is all I’m really waiting for with Microsoft on top of the availability of their hardware. Right now I just see GamePass as simple solution to getting my kid his ability to play Sea of Thieves. But that can all change when the AAAs start coming in.
That plus a believe a deal between Microsoft and Tiktok falling through so MS had spare money in the bank to play with and Bethesda just happened to be up for sale.
Am I the only one who reads "publishing freedom"? Thats very diferent than creative freedom. This seems to be confirmation that they can put their games wherever they want as long as is on gamepass day 1.
Does ps5 has gamepass too? If not, then...
My read is they have a publishing arm in bethesda that had been publishing those titles for a long time and with that they have built up connections and expertise so why change only to have to replicate that .
If you reread it the creative freedom part was separate and referred to studios not being pushed to follow whatever the top game pass games happen to be and I took that as a reference to games like fortnite .
Will be timed exclusive to lure in the die hard fans to gamepass. After a year or so on to other consoles
Very wrong.
Denial comes before acceptance I suppose.
You guys are trying to look to deep at a shallow coment. Its as simple as them saying bethesda can do whatever the hell they want. My coment never said all games will be on ps5 just saying that if they wanted to MS wont stop them and games soon to release that already in production for ps5 like starfield will still launch on ps5.
It means Bethesda can publish any game and idea they want. This doesn't relate to where the games will go. Its already been confirmed that its GamePass on other plats or no sell.
2 diferent things and both adresed here. Booty said it quite clear. They are hands off. They might as well be a an independent publisher.
If you wana add your own spin to what its clearly said there than thats on you. I dont see the point in tryung to interpret anything while the boss clearly said they can do what they want and specifically took the time to seperate that in both areas of creative and publishing.
Anything that you can play on in 1st-person, they've got you covered.
Essay Pro