Maybe the biggest acquisition news to ever hit the video gaming industry happened recently when Microsoft bought Bethesda Softworks parent company ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion.
For those who don’t follow the gaming industry, Bethesda is one of the biggest names in the world. It is the studio behind some of the biggest franchises.
Elder Scrolls, Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein and Dishonored are all titans in the industry. Doom Eternal was released on March 20 and will likely be up for a number of awards this year.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the biggest games in history. It is the subject of countless memes poking fun at how many consoles it’s been ported to since it’s release in 2011. Elder Scrolls VI is coming in the next couple of years. And like Skyrim, it’s sure to generate hundreds of millions in sales.
And now it could be exclusive to Xbox consoles…
Microsoft Bought Bethesda. So What’s Next?
Microsoft buying Bethesda addresses one of the biggest complaints about its first-party games. Or rather, its lack of big first-party games as it competes with Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) and its PlayStation brand.
This is a major shot across the bow of Sony, which dominated the current generation of console sales at a 2-to-1 ratio. With Microsoft buying Bethesda, it gives it sole ownership of all Bethesda IPs, and allows it to make the games part of its subscription-based GamePass model… sort of a Netflix for video games that costs $10 a month.
Sony does not yet have a real rival to GamePass, which has seen its subscription numbers rise by 50% to 15 million — in the past few months alone. So Microsoft buying Bethesda is quite the coup.
And this news comes just ahead of the November release of the next major consoles, Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X. Google parent company Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Amazon Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) are also getting into the video game streaming business. So business is clearly booming.
Of course, the headlines behind this major acquisition quickly came and went, but the repercussions will last for years.
You may not be a gamer, and that’s totally fine. I am not.
But In the U.S. alone, the gaming industry is worth about $66 billion a year in sales. Worldwide, it’s worth about $200 billion. As an investor, there’s money to be made on this news.
And I think there are more big acquisitions to come…
Check out this video and leave a comment below, sharing your thoughts on Microsoft buying Bethesda. Is this an industry you’re interested in investing in? Why or why not?
