Seems we're not the only people who think Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda is a fantastic one, as Arkane Austin studio head Harvey Smith also agrees.
In a recent interview with the Spanish publication Vandal (thanks, VGC), Smith spoke about his experience working at Arkane during the acquisition and how "there has been no change", but he believes the partnership between the two "fit perfectly":
“I think the process is still unfolding, I can’t say much about it because I don’t know much either, I would say there has been no change at Arkane so far, but if I were to imagine the ideal partner, thinking of all the publishers and the people I know who work for them, it would be very, very difficult to find a better partner for Bethesda than Microsoft. They fit perfectly.”
It's great to see people on the inside excited about the prospect and what the merger could mean for both Xbox and the games industry as a whole. While we haven't seen anything from the purchase so far, outside of games such as Doom Eternal hitting Xbox Game Pass, no doubt this year will bring some teases at the very least.
Do you agree with Smith's sentiment? Let us know in the comments below.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 18
Arkane is about as good a purchase as any could possibly strive to be. Their games are some of the best this generation. I was worried Prey's sales would hurt the chances of a sequel, but an owner like Sony or MS are more likely to let them take even more risks than Bethesda. The only thing I'll miss is Bethesda's VR output.
“Speaking to Vandal, Smith explained that he’s not currently working on Deathloop instead working “on something else, working with the guys who made Dishonored and Prey.”
https://mspoweruser.com/arkane-studios-unannounced-game-xbox-series-x-s/
@Senua
Yes, I've wondered this since the Deathloop trailer was credited as an Arkane Lyon production.
That's great and all, but what's he going to say "It's a disaster, run, RUUUNNNN!!"? I mean, even if they were being bought by Tencent, Vivendi, or Zynga they'd be obligated to talk about how perfect it is.
Honestly, it makes sense to me. Although Tango seem to me more a Sony sorta dev than MS. Can’t say I’m too pleased about so many devs being tied to the one infrastructure however.
@nessisonett each platform does it though but I suppose third party devs who go first party end up losing out on money in the end, yeah they get a load of money from the takeover but profits game game sales will be lower
For example if Bethesda make games exclusive for xbox then that's atleast 80 million ps5 players they have missed an opportunity to sell to, equalling £millions of missed profit
@UltimateOtaku91 It’s also slightly more complicated with the Game Pass thing too. I doubt they’ll be selling too many games on console at all. They’ll get Steam sales however.
That's nice to know! I think so too!
@UltimateOtaku91 unless those people get an Xbox, or PC or play it on mobile...kinda the point no? Also out of the 110M PS4 owners how many actually buy these games? Between 5-10 million perhaps? How many more will play them because they are on gamepass? 10-20+ million?
@Krzzystuff but on gamepass Bethesda won't be directly receiving £50-£70 for each copy sold physical and digital.
I think xbox and Bethesda will trial going exclusive with one of its titles and if it fails to attract the amount of players they want and revenue they need then I'm sure the rest will be multi plat
@Krzzystuff 10 million ps5 players paying £60 just for that one Bethesda game vs 20 million gamepass subscribers paying £10 for a sub which is shared between all the games on gamepass? (not fully sure how it works)
@UltimateOtaku91 HBO just decided to put wonder women straight to streaming after spending $200+m on making it...cuz they want subscribers...cuz it's more profitable. MS (who will own Zenimax shortly) doesn't need those 10 million sales, they want people to subscribe to their service. Bethesda as a stand alone company definitely would be thinking about those missed sales, but Bethesda as a Xbox games studio doesn't care about it.
@Krzzystuff but if it wasn't for this pandemic then cinema's would of been open and wonder woman wouldn't of gone straight to streaming. That's an interesting one I wonder if they could recuperate 200 million back just by new subscribers
@nessisonett Whilst I do agree with you having them all consolidated isn't great, I am glad it was one of the "Big Three". Besides that it's the one that publishes for sure on PC.
Basically, Bethesda was going to get sold, but I feel like if it had been EA or Activision the life and soul would have been eaten out of it.
Doom belonging to Activision-Blizzard is just not a happy idea =/
But yeah Consolidation is not necessarily a good thing for sure.
@Grot Agreed, it genuinely is a good fit.
Bethesda has been Microsoft first since DOS anyway and they seem to have similar outlooks in gaming. But it's always funny when an insider comments on it being great as though any other answer is valid. From what I heard from Rare and some FASA guys back in the day, off the record but on the clock, it wasn't a good fit..... Buy publicly....
The one thing i really like about Microsoft's acquisition is, if you look at it they're really laser focusing on a genre. They are the wrpg company now. Or rpg company as they focus on Japan more too. Sony used to be the rpg company but they never really made rpgs, just got Japanese exclusives. Pc was primarily the wrpg company. Ms really focusing on that as a specialty is a smart move imo. It can be their staple the same way movie games is for Sony.
@UltimateOtaku91
"10 million ps5 players paying £60 just for that one Bethesda game vs 20 million gamepass subscribers paying £10 for a sub which is shared between all the games on gamepass? (not fully sure how it works)"
That's because you don't try to see the bigger picture. The idea of subscriptions is: money in the long run. People stick to the Game Pass, because they know they will get something in return, even though they have to wait a bit for it. That's opposed to the tactic of putting all your HOPES on large sales numbers when a game comes out. Game Pass makes money income somewhat predictable for MS, so they can adjust tactics and expenses accordingly.
Other than that, the more people play games, the more advertising these games get (low entry barrier), the bigger the chances people will buy games outside of Game Pass as well. GoG, Steam, Epic, maybe Switch ...
There is a reason why VoD and music streaming work well.
@UltimateOtaku91 from a financial standpoint, the beauty of GP is that players that don't subscribe but want X or Y exclusive will simply buy it. MS does not need 50 million GP subscribers tomorrow to make that worth their investment.
As GP grows, sales might go down, but GP will have grown. If it does not grow, they will sell copies, across XBox and PC.
I think an obvious evolution here is to allow players to buy digital games for streaming without subscribing to GP. Buy a digital copy of Fallout 5, play it on your phone or Samsung TV, even if you are not subscribed and have no console.
Btw, I fully expect GP to more than double their subs through this year.
Edit: forgot to note, some people still like owning their games. Be it physical or digital, even some GP Subscribers will still buy some of these games.
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