Microsoft suddenly buying Bethesda for $7.5 billion has definitely shaken the gaming industry. Some are even worrying whether future Bethesda games will be coming to PlayStation 5 or not. It is not just game exclusivity. This massive acquisition can mean that other gaming companies will also want to purchase development teams to solidify their position. Well, at least that’s what Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, believes.
Zelnick said during the company’s Q2 earnings call that they should expect more mergers and acquisitions. “Look, we have seen an acceleration in M&A activity. Obviously, Microsoft is acquiring Bethesda, for example, which is a significant, I believe seven some odd billion dollar transaction,” Zelnick told investors. “So I think you're going to continue to see increased M&A activity, just because of the heat around the category and the amount of capital that's being deployed by big companies to pursue it.”
Zelnick also claimed that they don’t plan to sit on the side-lines. They have $2.4 billion in cash and they aren’t afraid of spending it, as long as the deal makes sense to them. “From our point of view, we have almost $2.4 billion in cash. We have no debt. And we are anxious in it to build our business aggressively doing so. And we use our capital to support for organic for primary story at Take-Two,” he added. “We also will use our cash to acquire companies when they're strategically consonant and when those deals are accretive, and we return capital to the shareholders on a regular basis through buybacks. And that'll continue to be our approach.”
It will be interesting to see which game development studio Take-Two is interested in. They recently purchased Ruffian Games, which is now called Rockstar Dundee. Maybe more acquisition like that will finally give us a Red Dead Redemption remake. An outlaw can only hope.
So what do you think? How do you feel about Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda? Which development team do you think Take-Two might buy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
