Xbox has announced that they are acquiring Bethesda/Zenimax this morning. The studio is behind such massive franchises such as Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonoured, Starfield and more.

The news comes at no better time. Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S preorders go live in just eight-hours. Xbox is promising that Bethesda will be there at the heart of the Xbox eco-system as we head into the next-generation, and that will be a huge selling point for many gamers.

“Bethesda’s games have always had a special place on Xbox and in the hearts of millions of gamers around the world,” said Phil Spencer in an Xbox blog post. “Our teams have a close and storied history working together, from the amazing first DOOM, and its id Tech engine, innovating games on PCs to Bethesda bringing their first console game to the original Xbox, the groundbreaking The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Over the years I’ve had many deep conversations with the creative leaders at Bethesda on the future of gaming and we’ve long shared similar visions for the opportunities for creators and their games to reach more players in more ways.”

Xbox will be adding Bethesda’s franchises to Xbox Game Pass for console and PC.

The full list of studios from within Bethesda/Zenimax are Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios.

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Jason Schreier is reporting that Microsoft has plans to buy Zenimax/Bethesda. This would be an industry-shaking acquisition and a literally game-changer.

The acquisition would give Xbox ownership of the Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom and Bethesda’s upcoming Starfield IP.

Schreier is reporting that Microsoft is paying $7.5 billion for the acquisition, which is 3x what they paid for Minecraft/Mojang back in 2014.

Microsoft also acquired Obsidian in 2018 who previously developed Fallout New Vegas which was published by Bethesda. In a weird round-about way, this acquisition would mean that Microsoft could make Fallout New Vegas 2 a reality.

Even weirder would be the revelation that Xbox would be buying a company that is making a timed PlayStation exclusive with Deathloop.

Jason Schreier has stated on Twitter that more information will be published on Bloomberg shortly.