Microsoft has inched closer to its complete acquisition of ZeniMax Media as the purchase has been approved by The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In September last year, Microsoft announced that they’re acquiring ZeniMax Media and all its studios which include Bethesda Softworks, the makers of Doom, Fallout, and Skyrim for a whopping $7.5 billion.
These studios cannot work together officially yet. There is one final obstacle to overcome and that is approval from the European Commission. The European Commission was scheduled to announce its verdict on March 5 but they still haven’t made their approval or disapproval public.
ZeniMax Media set to join the Xbox family
Once Microsoft gets European Commission’s approval, they will have finally added ZeniMax Media to the Xbox family. Microsoft has already created a new division called Vault to merge with ZeniMax Media once the deal is closed.
According to legal documents, Microsoft will have “sole control of the whole of ZeniMax” and it will be accomplished by “way of a merger pursuant to which a newly created Microsoft subsidiary (‘Vault’) will be merged with and into ZeniMax.”
Back in September, Pete Hines, SVP of PR and Marketing at Bethesda stated that this acquisition will allow Bethesda to “make even better games going forward. Microsoft is an incredible partner and offers access to resources that will make us a better publisher and developer.”
After the announcement of the acquisition, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that they are not done buying video game companies. “The idea of having content is so we can reach larger communities and that is why Microsoft will consider buying even more video game companies in the future,” he said.
