In 2021, Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Elder Scrolls publisher Bethesda. The impact of this industry-shaking acquisition was part of Microsoft's strategy to bolster its lineup of first-party Xbox games, as well as acquire content for its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. This would also help Microsoft better compete with PlayStation on the exclusives front. And while it took a couple of years, PlayStation is finally feeling the sting from Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda.
The early days of Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition didn't have much of an impact on PlayStation. In fact, pre-existing agreements saw Microsoft actually release some Bethesda-published games as timed-PS5 exclusives post-acquisition. This included Deathloop, a critically-acclaimed first-person shooter game from Arkane, giving PS5 a big leg-up over Microsoft's own Xbox. Deathloop was followed by Ghostwire: Tokyo, which didn't earn quite the same level of acclaim from critics, but was still a notable release since it came from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and Tango Gameworks. Both games were console exclusive to PlayStation 5 for an entire year, though they eventually came to Xbox and the Game Pass service.
With the commitments to bring Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo to PS5 out of the way, the next Bethesda-published title was primed to release as an Xbox console exclusive, skipping PlayStation entirely. That game was Redfall, a co-op vampire shooter from Arkane that had a decent amount of hype behind it prior to release given its status as a first-party Xbox game. Unfortunately, Redfall fell way short of expectations, earning mostly negative reviews from critics and standing out as one of the lowest-rated games ever published by Bethesda.
Starfield Has Been a Huge Success for Xbox
Redfall's failure ensured that PlayStation still wasn't feeling the sting of Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda even two years after it happened. To that point, the Microsoft acquisition of Bethesda had amounted to almost nothing negative for PlayStation. PS5 got Deathloop and Ghostwire a year before Xbox, and Xbox exclusive Redfall was a flop. However, Microsoft's first big win from its Bethesda acquisition came a few months after Redfall's launch with the release of the massive open world sci-fi RPG Starfield.
While it certainly has its detractors, Starfield reviews were largely positive, with the game being praised for successfully translating the open world style of gameplay found in The Elder Scrolls and Fallout to an outer space setting. Starfield didn't just earn a great deal of acclaim from critics, though. The game has also enjoyed strong sales, with Starfield proving to be a system seller for Xbox consoles in some regions. Its status as a day one Xbox Game Pass game makes it likely that it also helped bring new gamers to that platform as well, making Starfield an all-around win for the Xbox brand, and the first major blow to PlayStation from the Bethesda acquisition.
Future Bethesda-published games will be following Starfield's example and skipping PlayStation, so the impact of Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda will only grow over time. Upcoming games like the new Indiana Jones game from Bethesda studio MachineGames will be Xbox exclusive, not to mention The Elder Scrolls 6. The Elder Scrolls 6 is easily one of the most highly-anticipated games currently in development, and the fact that it is most likely skipping PlayStation is going to deal a significant blow whenever the game finally releases.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is Probably Skipping PlayStation
The good news for PlayStation is that The Elder Scrolls 6 won't be out anytime soon. Bethesda just launched Starfield after all, and it plans on supporting the open world sci-fi RPG for quite some time, with at least two major expansions on the way. Leaked court documents suggest that the earliest The Elder Scrolls 6 will release is 2026, but that seems pretty optimistic. The most likely scenario is that The Elder Scrolls 6 will launch closer to the end of the decade, perhaps even for the next-generation Xbox console.
Those same court documents have reaffirmed what many already assumed, that The Elder Scrolls 6 will be Xbox console exclusive and skip PS5. That being said, the door hasn't been completely shut on the possibility of The Elder Scrolls 6 eventually coming to PlayStation. Xbox executives seem reluctant to state definitively that The Elder Scrolls 6 won't be on PlayStation, but fans shouldn't hold their breath. If Elder Scrolls 6 does ever come to non-Xbox platforms, one has to imagine it will be sometime after the Xbox version launches, if ever.
Xbox's acquisition of Bethesda is finally having an impact on PlayStation, and it's possible something similar will happen with the company's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. With major hurdles cleared, it's expected that Microsoft will close its deal to acquire the Call of Duty publisher soon. Something that will keep that record-breaking acquisition from having quite as immediate of an impact is that Microsoft has agreed to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for at least the next 10 years. That doesn't mean other Activision Blizzard-published games won't release as Xbox console exclusives or there won't be other Xbox-exclusive perks for Call of Duty gamers on Microsoft's platform, though.
