Xbox Game Studios Head Matt Booty on Bethesda acquisition

Le Figaro’s Chloé Woitier talked to Xbox Game Studios Head, Matt Booty.

While the original article is under paywall, Woitier has kindly summarized the key takeaways on Twitter.

• Microsoft and Bethesda are holding a joint conference in a few weeks, which could very well be an E3 presentation.
• New games from Bethesda will arrive on Game Pass the day they are released.
• Microsoft will not intervene with Bethesda’s marketing and sales activities. Nor will it force its own teams into Bethesda’s structures. The publisher will also keep its overseas offices.
• Booty said it’s a priority for Microsoft to maintain the creative freedom at internal studios — this applies to all other acquisitions by Xbox.
• Microsoft is not expecting its studios to specifically create games that perform best on Game Pass. That’s where, according to Booty, Xbox is different from Netflix with its advanced viewership data analysis.
• Outside the article, Woitier asked Booty if other acquisitions were in sight, to which he replied, “I can’t share anything!”
• Woitier also found out that COVID-19 has slowed down the production at Xbox Game Studios games, with the biggest impact felt across teams working on new IPs as opposed to sequels.