Less than a day before pre-orders went live for the Xbox Series X, Microsoft blew the gaming world wide open with the purchase of Bethesda Softworks. The Maryland based publisher is responsible for some of gaming's biggest franchises, but they haven't been a perfect company and have developed a reputation in the past few years. Rushed games, a plethora of bugs and unfinished game mechanics and a focus on re-releasing old titles for new hardware have made Bethesda the talk of the industry for all the wrong reasons.

Microsoft's purchase could change that, as they've shown plenty of success with buying troubled studios and giving them the support they need to be themselves and make great games. It's a wise move for Microsoft as well, though, as they now hold some of gaming's most iconic brands. Many of these titles have already benefited from their ties to Microsoft and the Game Pass service, but Microsoft just bought the exclusive rights to these massive franchises.

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THE ELDER SCROLLS

skyrim elder scrolls

Arguably the Bethesda deal's gem purchase, The Elder Scrolls is a storied franchise that shows no signs of slowing down. Dating back to 1994, the franchise has continued to grow and expand with its most recent release, The Elder Scrolls: Blades, an innovative mobile title.

Still, it is a franchise showing its age. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was a hit, but has become the butt of many jokes as it is continuously re-released on new hardware, most recently being the Nintendo Switch. Still, Elder Scrolls Online remains popular with fans. A new entry, The Elder Scrolls VI, was announced at E3 2018, but as of this writing, all Bethesda has revealed is that they are working on it.

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FALLOUT

One of the many licenses acquired by Bethesda over the years, Fallout has been a huge point of contention for fans. Fallout 1 & 2 set the franchise's tone with their darkly humorous stories and isometric, RPG gameplay. Under Bethesda, though, Fallout let many of the RPG elements slide in favor of becoming a more action-oriented FPS title with Fallout 3.

Still, the purchase has a surprising beacon of hope for Fallout fans. Microsoft already owns Obsidian, the team that developed last year's The Outer Worlds. Many of those team members also worked on the original Fallout entries, as well as Fallout: New Vegas. While the franchise has received a lot of flack for how poorly 2018's Fallout 76 has been handled, the prospect of a new entry from the New Vegas team is sure to have Fallout fans talking.

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DOOM

Bethesda made a lot of missteps, but they've seemed to be incredibly protective of DOOM. First developed in 1993 by iD Software, DOOM became a flagship Bethesda title when its subsidiary ZeniMax Media purchased iD in 2009. Despite this purchase, DOOM remained dormant for some time.

The franchise burst back on to the scene with 2016's DOOM, which was a critical darling and a sales success. Off the back of this came DOOM Eternal, which was met with similar praise. While a third entry has yet to be confirmed, the previous entries' success makes it all but a lock, though there's still some DLC to come for Eternal.

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WOLFENSTEIN

Before there was DOOM, there was Wolfenstein. Hailed as the granddaddy of all shooters, Wolfenstein kicked off the FPS mania that would consume gaming, even today remaining a popular mainstay. Unlike DOOM, Wolfenstein titles popped up from time to time, though few of the entries really lit up sales charts.

All that changed when 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order saw the franchise reinvigorated. New Order reworked the story so that protagonist B.J. BLazkowicz was now in an alternate timeline where Nazis won World War II. That game's success would spawn two sequels: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Wolfenstein: Youngblood. A new entry has not been announced yet following Youngblood's lukewarm reception.

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STARFIELD

starfield announcement trailer

Without a doubt, the most mysterious title in the lot has to be Starfield. Starfield was announced at Bethesda's 2018 E3 conference, where it almost felt like an afterthought after the reveals of DOOM Eternal, Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls VI.

To date, not much is known about Starfield. The trailer featured a starry expanse, as a satellite opened wide and appeared to be sucked into a hyperspace field, but that's it. However, with Bethesda now being owned by Microsoft, it could serve as an opportunity to focus development for the Series X and PC, which may speed things along. Only time will tell when (or even if) Starfield is arriving.

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