In what seems to be one of the biggest acquisitions in gaming’s history, Microsoft has officially announced that the Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks that consists of some of the most popular development studios underneath its label such as Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane, ID Software, etc, will be a part of Microsoft’s family moving forward.
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With the final deal closing off by the second half of the fiscal year 2021 for a whopping $7.5 billion, Microsoft may just have turned the tides when it comes to first-party acquisitions.
Whereas the future sequels of franchises such as Wolfenstein, Doom, Dishonored, and other Bethesda owned IP’s seems prominent for Xbox’s library, especially the company’s actively growing game pass subscription, all of which are now confirmed to be part of it day one, it’s the future of franchises such as Elder Scrolls, Fallout and their newest IP Starfield that has garnished everyone’s attention.
With Bethesda Game Studio seemingly now a part of the Xbox Game Studios, it will share space with its other highly popular and recently acquired siblings such as Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment.
inXile fresh off the success of their next big, tactical RPG Wasteland 3 that stayed true to its roots, is now working on an unannounced AAA RPG under the Xbox banner. This news came from multiple job listings and from an industry Klobrillee earlier this year who shared the following on Twitter –
inXile tidbits on what’s after Wasteland 3:
– Next-generation role-playing game
– Unreal Engine 4
– Houdini for procedural systems
– Experience with large, AAA teams and distributed development
– Team has been growing a lot during the last year (ca 100).https://t.co/MMZSr3dvRK
— Klobrille (@klobrille) January 27, 2020
Whatever inXile is working on next is currently under wrap and may not release before 2022. However, it does leave a lot to speculate. With Microsoft’s resources, inXile may just be working on a big AAA RPG that appeals to a wider audience unlike the Wasteland games and perhaps competes directly with games such as the upcoming Dragon Age or Horizon Forbidden West. Or maybe it’s working on a live service title that caters to the modern Xbox audience.
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On the other hand, we already know what Obsidian Entertainment is working on. Avowed is the studio’s next big open-world action RPG that looks to be the Skyrim successor. It sounds even more ambitious now considering how Bethesda Game Studio may lend a hand in its development. It’s not uncommon for internal first part studios to help each other out. Arkane aided Machine Games in the development of Wolfenstein Young Blood which is just one of many examples.
What’s more interesting to note here is that we may finally get a sequel to Fallout New Vegas from Obsidian, or perhaps they may develop an entirely new Fallout game( perhaps Fallout 5?) since Microsoft now has the handle over all of Bethesda’s franchises.
With Bethesda Game Studio seemingly busy with the development of Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 and its on-going live service title Fallout 76, it may seem like a long, long wait for a single-player Fallout game, except if Microsoft let Obsidian or inXile take over the helm. After all, both of these studios are potent enough to make a Fallout game, perhaps even better than BGS’ themselves.
With Avowed, and whatever inXile is working on next still a few years down the line, it’s Bethesda’s Starfield that could be the complete game changer for Xbox. Talking about the acquisition earlier today, Todd Howard confirmed that Starfield will have the largest engine overhaul since Elder Scrolls Oblivion and new technologies will power that and Elder Scrolls 6‘s development. It means a lot, considering how Obvilion came out 14 years ago and how every other BGS’ titles since then have looked dated. That may just be changing from the studios’ next game.
Starfield has been in active development since Bethesda shipped Fallout 4 back in 2015. It is also undoubtedly the first of the big three RPG’s from the Xbox team that will grace Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Xbox Game Pass(day one) and that speaks a lot considering how Xbox has always been labeled as a company which only cares about the shooter genre. That, fortunately, seems to be changing now. Aside from these three RPG giants, we also know that Playground Games is working on a new Fable game that will also, most probably release between the 2022-2023 release window.
With Sony’s first-party lineup lingering with a plethora of open-world action-adventure games, Xbox’s first part lineup in the coming years looks to be that of big open-world western RPG’s and not just any RPG’s but some of the finest this industry has to offer.
