Microsoft on Monday said it would buy ZeniMax Media, owner of popular video game publisher Bethesda Softworks, in a $7.5 billion cash deal. Bethesda Softworks is the creator of some of the most popular video games such as Fallout, Doom and The Elder Scrolls.

Phil Spencer, Executive Vice-President, Gaming at Microsoft said that the investment adds to the “most critical part” of Microsoft’s strategy, “the games,”, especially with the upcoming launch of its next-generation gaming consoles. “Generations of gamers have been captivated by the renowned franchises in the Bethesda portfolio and will continue to be so for years to come as part of Xbox,” he said.

The planned acquisition includes publishing offices and development studios with over 2,300 employees across the globe, including Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios.

The acquisition comes as Bethesda had already announced two upcoming exclusive games for Xbox competitor Sony’s PlayStation. Sony’s upcoming gaming console PS5 will include two exclusive games from the studio, Arkane’s Deathloop and the Tango Gameworks title Ghostwire: Tokyo.

Spencer in an interview with Bloomberg confirmed that these exclusive deals will be honoured, however, future games for non-Xbox platforms will be decided upon on a “case-by-case basis.”

“We’re still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we’ve worked with for years, and those games will be published by us,” said Pete Hines SVP, Global Marketing and Communications.

Microsoft is expecting to close the acquisition in the second half of the fiscal year 2021. The company will be launching its next-generation consoles the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S on November 10.

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