Microsoft says it won’t stop Bethesda from releasing games on rival consoles

However, Xbox systems will likely receive preferential treatment

Microsoft says it has no intention to stop Bethesda Softworks from releasing games on Sony and Nintendo systems in the future.

CFO Tim Stuart spoke on the tech giant’s plans for ZeniMax Media – the parent company of Bethesda – at the recent Jefferies Interactive Entertainment conference, and how it’ll handle the releases of future games. He noted Microsoft does not intend to stop the developer from releasing titles on rival consoles, however, Xbox systems will likely receive preferential treatment.

“What we’ll do in the long run is we don’t have intentions of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise,” Stuart said, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. “But what we want is that content, in the long run, to be either first or better or best or pick your differentiated experience, on our platforms. We will want Bethesda content to show up the best as – on our platforms.”

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Stuart added that the acquisition of Bethesda and its sister studios was “not a point about being exclusive”, but instead to support its Xbox Game Pass service. “But if you think about something like Game Pass, if it shows up best in Game Pass, that’s what we want to see, and we want to drive our Game Pass subscriber base through that Bethesda pipeline,” he added.

Back in September, when Microsoft first announced its plans to purchase ZeniMax media, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said that future Bethesda games will be released on rival consoles on a “case by case basis”.

During his appearance at the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment conference, Stuart also said that Microsoft will reveal the prices of its next-gen first-party games “in due time”. He also stated that the supply of Xbox Series X|S consoles would be limited until at least April 2021.

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