There were also industry critics who, while intrigued by the acquisition, also expressed concerns around industry consolidation, observing that larger companies merging is not always a positive trend in the long run. A lot of people saw it as a big positive thing, the same way we do." Todd Howard, Bethesda "I was naively surprised at how big it landed and what it meant in the larger context of games, but I was happy with the feedback we saw. "I grossly underestimated the impact in the larger gaming community," he says. As daft and perhaps unreasonable as these reactions might seem, it speaks to the magnitude of the deal - something Howard didn't fully appreciate being so "in the weeds" on actually arranging it. In addition to the overall shock, external reactions ranged from Elder Scrolls fans committing to getting an Xbox out of fear that PlayStation may no longer receive Bethesda games, to a campaign urging Sony to acquire Konami as some sort of counter-attack. This hour-long session will explore the director and executive producer's 26-year career as he prepares to receive the Develop Star Award, so naturally our one-on-one conversation focuses primarily on the biggest games acquisition news of 2020. Howard is speaking to us ahead of his Develop:Brighton 2020 keynote next week, which will be hosted by. ![]() "I grossly underestimated the impact in the larger gaming community" "We're very much aligned, and have been for a long time, with the same vision as to where gaming is going and how we can be ambassadors and drive that forward." ![]() "Once the shock wore off, there was just huge excitement given the relationship we've had and what the road looks like ahead - not just for us but the gaming industry," he says of the internal reaction to the news. ![]() It ends Bethesda's decades of independence, although Howard tells us the deal doesn't actually close until next year "so there's some time before it feels real." Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda parent ZeniMax Media came as a surprise to most of the industry - including, according to Elder Scrolls and Fallout director Todd Howard, a lot of people at the company.Īt over 2,000 employees, the developer and publisher is perhaps Xbox's largest purchase to date.
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