During the recent Jefferies Interactive Entertainment conference, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart and confirmed that the acquisition of Bethesda and id Software is not a strategy to take games from other platforms, the vision of the company is to establish a ‘first on’, or ‘best played on’ marketing strategy when titles like Fallout and Doom launches.
What we’ll do in the long run is we don’t have intentions of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise. But what we want is we want that content, in the long run, to be either first or better or best or pick your differentiated experience, on our platforms. We will want Bethesda content to show up the best as — on our platforms.
Xbox designed both the most powerful next-gen console and the most affordable one, but perhaps the pivotal point of the company for the next 10 years is Xbox Game Pass, the service has been strengthening with the acquisition of some of the best video games studios in the world. Basically, Phil Spencer wants to build on the Xbox’s brand recognition, something that would be destroyed if they take a game like The Elder Scrolls, or Fallout away from PC.
That’s not a point about we’re being — adjusting timing or content or road map. But if you think about something like Game Pass, if it shows up best in Game Pass, that’s what we want to see, and we want to drive our Game Pass subscriber base through that Bethesda pipeline.
Stuart also affirmed that Microsoft, as a platform supports Minecraft, Roadblock, Fortnite across platforms. Xbox will follow its push for cross-platform play. The executive explains that “if it’s good for the gaming ecosystem, it’s good for us”.
Certainly, Xbox could follow a similar strategy that PlayStation opted with the launch of Final Fantasy VII Remake and the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI. Future Bethesda games could be a timed exclusive on Xbox and PC or to be developed taking advatage of the gap in power between Xbox and PlayStation.
Source: Seeking Alpha – Video Games Chronicle
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