Fresh off blockbuster acquisition, Microsoft will add 20 Bethesda games to Xbox Game Pass

Microsoft plans to make 20 games from its new subsidiary Bethesda Softworks available on its subscription service Xbox Game Pass starting Friday morning.

The news follows Microsoft’s successful acquisition this week of ZeniMax Media, the Maryland-based holding company for Bethesda. Through ZeniMax, Bethesda owned eight other studios, such as Arkane, id Software, Tango Gameworks, and MachineGames, all of which are now part of Xbox Game Studios.

Excited that more players around the world will be able to discover 20 beloved Bethesda games in Xbox Game Pass tomorrow. Most of them available on mobile via cloud gaming for the first time. https://t.co/1tPh80zUTQ

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 11, 2021

The 20 Bethesda releases on Game Pass encompass some of the company’s most popular franchises. While many of them were already on the Game Pass (Skyrim), or have been before (Fallout 4, Wolfenstein: Youngblood), it does serve to drive home just how significant an acquisition this was for Microsoft.

Bethesda, through ZeniMax, owned the rights to several of the most beloved franchises in video games, including Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein, and its own best-selling Elder Scrolls series.

Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has repeatedly downplayed the idea that the acquisition means Bethesda games will ever be exclusive to Microsoft platforms. However, this still puts Microsoft in control of a lot of gaming’s real estate. A single company now owns Halo, Minecraft, Age of Empires, Gears of War, Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls, Forza, Prey, Dishonored, Hellblade, Battletoads, and Killer Instinct, among many others. In terms of intellectual property, it’s not quite on the level of something like the Disney/Fox merger, but it’s in the same general ballpark.

The real value for Bethesda’s lineup for Microsoft, based on what the company has said so far, is in putting them all on the Xbox Game Pass.

The Game Pass, which reached 15 million subscribers in September, is a major driver of Microsoft’s gaming business. The Netflix-style subscription plan lets players download and play the basic retail versions of a rotating assortment of video games, with most of Microsoft’s first-party titles appearing on Game Pass on launch day.

While most of the Bethesda titles on the Game Pass will be coming to Xbox, PC, and mobile devices (via xCloud) simultaneously, there are a couple of exceptions, the most noteworthy of which is Fallout: New Vegas. Check the following chart to see if a game you’re interested in will be compatible with your preferred platform: