The Implications of Microsoft’s Buyout by Joseph Phelps

This is pretty interesting news. Beyond the immediate cash grab ‘exclusives’ scandal now circulating, I see a gigantic opportunity here. Bethesda has been failing for quite a while now. They stumbled, and lost sight somewhere along the line. Fallout 4 was junk, poorly imagined, written, and executed, with giant steps back in terms of gameplay. Fallout 76 was and still is a nightmare. And aside from the predatory financial behavior of Bethesda and unfinished, lazily built games, FO76 glorifies nuclear weapons as fun toys and has the potential to drive culture in a legitimately dangerous direction. Heck, even the new DOOM sequel was lackluster and boring, I couldn’t be bothered to finish it. It felt more like a hyperactive puzzle game than a power fantasy shooter.

Now with rumors swirling around about issues with the development of Elder Scrolls 6…it hurts to say it, but they’ve lost their magic. With a 7.5 billion dollar investment in these companies, we can assume Microsoft expects a major return on that amount, within the short window of 2 to five years. The silly stuff they’re doing with subscription services and exclusives will get them a nice fat short term return, and possibly a semi-dirty console wars victory over Sony, but my focus is on the franchises. Skyrim is still an absurdly well performing game that continues to excite its fan base almost a decade after release. Oblivion is an undisputed classic. Fallout 3 and New Vegas (yes I know it was Obsidian) are eternal fan favorites, historic in the gaming community. That ugly smattering of bad games in each franchise could mean a major overhaul, potential reboots/reimagining, and a new Elder Scrolls worthy of the name.

I would love to fall in love with Fallout and the Elder Scrolls all over again. Fingers crossed, but this looks like good news to me.

Be sure to check out Joesph Phelps on Amazon. He’ll be joining us in the newsletter and on the site here and there and is a terrific guy. Give him a read or several 🙂

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