Phil Spencer stresses exclusivity in ZeniMax deal
Xbox head talks about acquisition, saying "this is about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists"
Microsoft is increasingly comfortable leaning into its messaging that future Bethesda Softworks titles will be exclusive to Xbox and Game Pass platforms, judging by comments made in a Bethesda-Xbox roundtable discussion today.
"We have games that exist on other platforms, and we're going to support those games on the platforms they're on," Xbox head Phil Spencer said when the topic of exclusivity came up.
"There are communities of players. We love those communities and will continue to invest in them. And even in the future, there might be things that have either contractual things, or legacy on different platforms, that we'll go do.
"But if you're an Xbox customer, the thing I want you to know is this is about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists."
When Microsoft first announced the deal to acquire Bethesda parent ZeniMax for $7.5 billion in September, Spencer said that Bethesda games would arrive on platforms beyond the Xbox and PC "on a case-by-case basis."
The following month, Spencer pushed back against notions of exclusivity, saying "this deal was not done to take games away from another player base like that."
After the acquisition closed earlier this week, Spencer was a little more blunt about the issue, including a mention of "some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players."