Xbox's recent purchase of Bethesda's developing team and game library will bring a host of perks to owners of Microsoft's consoles. One of those benefits is access to new Bethesda games through Xbox Game Pass.
New games from the newly purchased developer will become available on Xbox Game Pass the same day as they debut on the Xbox consoles and PC. This includes Starfield, the new space epic coming from Bethesda Game Studios. Older Bethesda games will also become available on Xbox Game Pass at an undisclosed date.
Xbox announced its purchase of ZeniMax Media, which owns Bethesda Softworks, earlier today. "Today is a special day, as we welcome some of the most accomplished studios in the games industry to Xbox," the announcement read. "We are thrilled to announce Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks."
The purchase puts Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog and Roundhouse Studios under the Xbox banner, and put franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Prey, Quake and Starfield under the full control of Microsoft.
With Bethesda now under Microsoft ownership, many Sony and PlayStation owners are worried that they won't be able to access the gaming developer's newest creations. However, Microsoft said it will honor the agreements made between Bethesda and Sony regarding Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo. Under this agreement, the two games will be released for PlayStation 5 as timed console exclusives, meaning they will be available for the Sony console for some time before Xbox owners can get their hands on them.
As for new games, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that the gaming company will evaluate each release on a "case-by-case" basis. This includes the new edition of The Elder Scrolls, which is currently in development, and is set to release after Starfield.
Xbox Game Pass is a Netflix-like service for gaming. For a set, monthly price, gamers get access to a collection of games that they can play whenever they want. The service launched on June 1, 2017, and currently boasts 15 million subscribers.
Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S arrives Nov. 10 from Microsoft.