Microsoft is celebrating the completion of its acquisition of Bethesda Softworks by bringing 20 of their classic titles to Xbox Game Pass.
Microsoft have just confirmed that their purchase of Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media is finally done. After quite a few months sitting in limbo, the deal has passed its final hurdle in the form of the EU courts. To celebrate this news, Microsoft if bringing 20 of Bethesda’s most-loved titles to their popular subscription service Game Pass.
The selection has a little something for everyone, and nicely shows off games from Bethesda’s acclaimed 30 plus years in the industry. Seeing The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind on the list below fills me with feelings of joy and nostalgia.
The games
Here is the full list of Bethesda titles that are now live on Game Pass:
- Dishonored Definitive Edition (console, PC, cloud)
- Dishonored 2 (console, PC, cloud)
- Doom 1993 (console, PC, cloud)
- Doom II (console, PC, cloud)
- Doom III (console, PC, cloud)
- Doom 64 (console, PC, cloud)
- Doom Eternal (console, PC, cloud)
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (console, PC)
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (console, PC)
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (console, PC, cloud)
- The Elder Scrolls Online (console, cloud)
- The Evil Within (console, PC, cloud)
- Fallout 4 (console, PC, cloud)
- Fallout 76 (console, PC, cloud)
- Fallout: New Vegas (console)
- Prey (console, PC, cloud)
- Rage 2 (console, PC, cloud)
- Wolfenstein: The New Order (console, PC, cloud)
- Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (console, PC, cloud)
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood (console, PC, cloud)
It’s quite the list as you can see, and will provide Game Pass subscribers with potentially hundreds of hours of entertainment, possibly more.While examining the above titles it really becomes apparent that Bethesda truly does have their own identity: fucking huge games that can disappear your entire life.
However, not everyone will be as pleased about this news as Xbox owners.
Will Bethesda games become Game Pass exclusives?
Now that all the celebrations, salivating, and congratulatory shoulder rubbing is over, we can start the pity parade. And who might be invited? Well, that would be PlayStation owners.
So far, Bethesda and Microsoft executives have been tight-lipped in regards to certain titles being turned into exclusives. However, with the deal confirmed, Xbox big-boss Phil Spencer has started dropping some bombs.
“If you’re an Xbox customer, the thing I want you to know is that this is about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists”.
It appears that Microsoft’s recent acquisitions are exactly what they first seemed: an attempt to land some serious blows against Sony in the title exclusivity wars. However, it should be noted that Game Pass is not exclusive to Xbox, and can also be used on PC and portable Android devices. Hell, there has even been some speculation that Microsoft would like to make Game Pass available on PlayStation consoles.
However, that happening seems about as likely as Super Mario appearing alongside Sonic the Hedgehog. Oh wait…
For more details on Game Pass, click here.
