European Commission okays Microsoft acquisition of Bethesda parent ZeniMax

Both the US SEC and European Commission have approved the acquisition

The European Union's antitrust regulator, the European Commission, has approved Microsoft ' s proposed acquisition of Bethesda parent ZeniMax Media.

While the approval does not mean that the deal has been closed, it is surely welcome news for Xbox fans and the latest sign that the proposed $7.5 billion deal is approaching completion.

The Commission said that the proposed deal satisfies criteria of Article 6(1)(b) of the EU Merger Regulation, stating, 'the concentration does not raise serious doubts as to its compatibility with the common market'.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published its own approval last week with a Notice of Effectiveness, indicating that it had reviewed the acquisition and accepted ZeniMax ' s new registration statement.

Microsoft first announced its plans to acquire ZeniMax Media and its games publishing arm Bethesda Softworks in September 2020. The software giant said it was ready to pay $7.5 billion for the acquisition, and promised to honour PS5 exclusivity commitments for GhostWire: Tokyo and Deathloop.

The company said games like Bethesda title The Elder Scrolls: Online would 'continue to be supported exactly as it was'.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year, and will see well-known studios like Bethesda, Arkane, id Software, and others coming into Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios division, increasing Microsoft ' s total number of internal studios to 23.

Microsoft says Bethesda will retain its existing leadership after the deal is closed.

"We ' re still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we ' ve worked with for years, and those games will be published by us," Bethesda marketing head Pete Hines stated in September.

Bethesda Softworks studios include Bethesda Game Studios (Elder Scrolls, Fallout), ZeniMax Online Studios (Elder Scrolls Online), id Software (Doom), Arkane (Dishonored, Prey), Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within), MachineGames (Wolfenstein), Roundhouse Studios and Alpha Dog.

Microsoft said in September that future Bethesda games, including Starfield, would launch on Xbox Game Pass the day they arrive on Xbox or PC.

When the deal was announced last year, ZeniMax Media Chairman and CEO Robert A. Altman said, "This is a thrilling day for this company, our employees, and our fans.

"We have enjoyed a close partnership with Microsoft for decades, and this deal is a natural progression of those years working together.

"The big winners today are our fans. We are continuing to develop our slate of AAA games, but now with Microsoft's scale and entire Game Stack, our games can only get better."