US and EU regulators approve Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax, and more unannounced Xbox games will arrive this year

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued a notice about Microsoft. Although the content did not mention Bethesda, through the content of the prospectus (SEC Form 424B3) published on the same day, it can be determined that it is related to Microsoft's US$7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax.

Soon, the European Commission’s website also updated its decision on the acquisition, with reference to Article 6(1)(b) of the European Commission’s Constitution and did not object to this transaction, and determined that it did not involve a monopoly. So far, with the permission of the two major antitrust review agencies in the United States and the European Union, Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax has been able to say that there is no hindrance.

In September last year, Microsoft announced that it would acquire ZeniMax. This is the largest game acquisition in Microsoft's history, surpassing the $2.5 billion acquisition of "Minecraft" developer Mojang in 2014. Bethesda, a subsidiary of Zenimax, has 8 studios, including Arkane, Tango Gameworks, id Software, Bethesda Game Studios, etc. It owns well-known games such as the Fallout series, The Elder Scrolls series and the Doom series.

According to previous news, Bethesda will continue to operate independently after the completion of the acquisition, similar to the previous acquisitions of Mojang, LinkedIn, and Github. At the same time, all games developed by Bethesda will be added to Xbox Game Pass.

In addition, according to Wccftech reports, Microsoft’s Xbox project director Jason Ronald has confirmed that there will be more unannounced Xbox games coming this year, which will be released later this year. According to speculations from all parties, these games are likely to include the new series of "Forza Motorsport: Horizon 5" and "Return to the German Headquarters", and the total number of games involved is at least 20.