Microsoft acquires publisher of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout in its largest ever gaming purchase

Microsoft is acquiring the video game publisher known for franchises like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls — and it's plunking down a significant amount of cash to do so.

Microsoft on Monday announced it's acquiring ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion. Bethesda has released games in wildly-popular franchises including Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Doom. This, Bloomberg reports, is Microsoft's "biggest video game purchase ever." It surpasses the $2.5 billion that the company paid in 2014 for Mojang, the creator of Minecraft, Variety notes. In fact, it's one of Microsoft's biggest-ever acquisitions in general, coming in not far behind its purchase of Skype.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.