Microsofts Xbox head, Phil Spencer has said they will honor the PS5 exclusivity deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo. The news comes from Bloomberg, where they took an interview with Phil.
Microsft has bought ZeniMax today, which is the parent company of Bethesda. The deal was made for 7.5 Billion dollars making it possibly the greatest deal related to the gaming industry. Moreover, with this deal, Microsoft has acquired 8 new development studios. Making it a total of 23 from 15. Microsoft now owns the rights to publish newer games from the studios on platforms they desire.
also read: Microsoft buys Bethesda Softworks; What does it mean now for both Xbox and PS?
Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo will still be a PS5 timed exclusive
With this deal, came the question about the future of Bethesda games. The main one was if they will make them exclusive for Xbox and PC. As exclusive games become a bigger trend, we see companies increase their library to attract more customers. This left a giant question mark regarding the Sonys deal with Bethesda to make Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo. The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer announced today that Microsoft will honor the deal that was made prior to the transaction. Meaning both games will still remain as a timed exclusive for PlayStation 5.
Update: Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo exclusivity agreements to be honored, future releases to be decided on a case-by-case basishttps://t.co/xCwHriybb9
— GamesIndustry (@GIBiz) September 21, 2020
Another question was the future of the relationship between Bethesda games and Sony. DOOM Eternal was already confirmed to be available on PS5 earlier this year. As for other games such as Elder Scrolls, Starfield, Wolfenstein, etc, Microsoft has said that they will look into it case by case. Which translates into some games being exclusive while others are still available for other platforms. One thing to keep in mind is that games such as Elder Scrolls have a huge PlayStation player base. So it is highly unlikely that they will make it into an exclusive.
Bethesda games will be available on Gamepass
Microsoft has been working hard on its Gamepass service making it more attractive than ever. Recently they partnered up with EA to provide games on the Gamepass service. Additionally, with this deal, the games such as Starfield will be available to the gamepass users. Bethesda games to be available on the Xbox gamepass will be a lot more worth than before. With the console preorders starting tomorrow, this deal will probably shift the tide a little bit in the Xbox favor.
Microsoft exclusives have been pretty disappointing so far. With the most anticipated Xbox game Halo: Infinite getting delayed, fans were left pretty devastated. In order to compensate for that, Microsoft had to do something huge and it seems like they did. Additionally, the availability of Bethesda games on the gamepass will provide more value for the money. As Microsoft is relying heavily on its gamepass service to be a success. It wouldn’t be wrong to think that they are headed in the right direction.
also read: Xbox removes all mentions of RDNA2 from its website; is it still the most powerful console?
Future games
Bethesda has said that they will still be making games in the future. These include some that have already been announced as well as some newer titles. These games will still be available on the gamepass from day 1. As far as other consoles are concerned, Microsoft has announced that they will look at them from case to case perspective. They also said that they will think about releasing their content on other platforms in the future as they are strong believers of their content being broadly available.