What happens to Bethesda’s multi-platform games under Microsoft?

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  A quick tour of some of the Bethesda gaming franchises Microsoft now owns begins with The Elder Scrolls series.

As recently as last weekend, it seemed relatively certain that the next games in major franchises like Doom, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Dishonored, and The Evil Within would come to the PlayStation 5 (and maybe even to the Nintendo Switch). That certainty went out the window yesterday, though, when Microsoft announced that it would spend $7.5 billion to acquire major publisher Bethesda Softworks.

Still, there is some hope for Bethesda fans who don't want to play on Xbox, PC, or via Microsoft's xCloud streaming. Future Bethesda titles will still be considered for multi-platform release "on a case-by-case basis," Microsoft Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said in an interview with Bloomberg News Monday morning.

Thus far, there are only a few clues as to which games might qualify for either side of that "case-by-case" line.

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