Microsoft buys out Bethesda Studios!

[bluepigeon]

How does this effect the future of modding?

 

https://www.polygon.com/2020/9/21/21448884/microsoft-buys-bethesda-zenimax-xbox-game-studios-starfield-fallout-doom

 

https://bethesda.net/en/article/4IwKWIj174Cb2QNTTtBAEb/todd-howard-on-joining-xbox

 

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/09/microsoft-purchases-bethesda-softworks-in-industry-changing-acquisition/

[Mavkiel]

At a guess, it won't. Getting rid of modding would kill the golden goose. Best case, microsoft realizes the potential, and throws open the modding door for porting microsoft assets into fallout.

[Gunslinger808]

I’d be more concerned as to whether they’re going to be as active supporting PC gamers, or will their focus be more geared toward console players?

[Mavkiel]

Trying to look at this as a soulless corp type. Why get rid of free workers that bug fix and concept test new ideas for you? Like settlement building was a mod in fallout 3, but in fallout 4 it's probably the most popular feature. (Mainly because the story is horrific)

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

If a the "next game" (ElderScrolls or Fallout) can't be modded as easily as the last games or moves to a completely new engine, I won't buy it ...

Becaus I spent too much time learning this stuff to "throw it all away for something else ..."

Edited September 22, 2020 by YouDoNotKnowMyName

[Balx2]

Just saw the story and the first thing that came to mind was "oh f*#@"

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Just saw the story and the first thing that came to mind was "oh f***"

Yes, same for me ...

 

I expect some "oh you have to be always logged in to some micrsoft account to use the development tool for that new game and can't use if offline" crap ...

 

So, with the "old" Bethesda, the thing was "it just works".

Now with microsoft, it is going to be "it just spies" ...

Edited September 22, 2020 by YouDoNotKnowMyName

[Moksha8088]

Hopefully this will give Obsidian the go ahead to make Fallout New Vegas 2. Maybe Creation Kit technology can find its way to Obsidian's Outer Worlds game.

 

I hope Microsoft pursues the Elder Scrolls 6 as a single player game that allows Nexus mods. I assume this will put a serious dent in Steam's business with sales moving over to Microsoft.

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

 

I hope Microsoft pursues the Elder Scrolls 6 as a single player game that allows Nexus mods. I assume this will put a serious dent in Steam's business with sales moving over to Microsoft.

But I hope it is not going to be like with the consoles, where you can only get the mods from one site (as far as I know, I don't play on consoles).

Because I hate having to be "signed in" and "registered" for everything that I do.

I prefer to work (and play) completely offline ...

 

But I think it is better for me if I stop reading about this and continue to work of Fallout 4 stuff ...

Otherwise I will worry too much about things I can't control but that would affect me in a negative way ....

 

So, I am out of here ...

 

Enjoy speculating about how this will go ....

 

EDIT:

 

 

This just feels so much like a classic trap:

 

Step 1: Lure the people in with some cools stuff (easily moddable games, ...)

Step 2: Confine them (There really aren't any other games that are as easilly moddable as ElderScrolls / Fallout, so nowhere else to go)

Step 3: Do nasty thing (because they can't "go anywhere else" you can do what you want to them ...)

Edited September 22, 2020 by YouDoNotKnowMyName

[FruitOfTheLum]

I don't think there's any risk of Microsoft abandoning the PC. If anything, they've been moving more in that direction lately - their 'console' exclusives are largely available on PC as well. Their business model these days seems to be focussed around the Game Pass, which is also available on PC. I would suggest that the Xbox itself is more of a Game Pass vehicle than a console in their eyes these days.

 

Is there any risk of Microsoft making it more difficult to mod Bethesda games than usual? I'm not sure. Microsoft has been supportive of mods in the past, certainly by allowing most kinds of mods to run on the Xbox One versions of Bethesda games, and of all the platform holders Microsoft was the least obtrusive to the concept. If we look over at Mojang and Minecraft, they've even gone so far as to allow two different versions of the game to exist concurrently: one on their own store and somewhat limited in functionality, and the other on Mojang's homepage and wide-open to tinkering.

 

I suppose the main worry here isn't that they'll stop allowing modding altogether, but rather that they'll take an active interest in modding - in which case, as someone else hinted at, they might limit mod distribution to their own platform and begin curating mods. Or in other words, blocking any mods that aren't '(corporate) family friendly'.

 

Would modding still have been supported by pre-Microsoft Zenimax, though? Fallout 76 has been a big red flag to me in this regard. Early promises of allowing mods on that game have completely evaporated with no hint of progress, and they've presumably been making so much money from the Atom Shop that they've not been inclined to change that. It could be the case that the Microsoft acquisition has averted a 'modpocalypse', rather than threatened one. After all, if they're focussed on the Game Pass, they're more inclined to keep people playing games for as long as possible - and so far as Bethesda games are concerned, mods are the way to do that, not microtransactions.

 

I'd personally wait and see before drawing any conclusions, though.

Edited September 23, 2020 by FruitOfTheLum