 Microsoft's game plan for the future of Xbox is absolutely fascinating. The company has just announced plans to purchase the entirety of Xenimax Media, the parent company for Bethesda Softworks. Microsoft will now own the Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, and all upcoming games from every studio under the Bethesda Wing. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreyer, Microsoft will pay $7.5 billion for Bethesda. To put this into context, Microsoft paid $2 billion for Minecraft's Mojang and Disney paid $4 billion for Lucasfilm. What makes this even more fascinating is the fact that Microsoft plans to give away all of Bethesda's games for free to Xbox subscribers. The Xbox Games Pass, available on both console and PC, will give unrestricted access to the entirety of Bethesda's games catalog. So why is Microsoft making such a huge purchase, and then dumping it all on subscription service? Because Microsoft has lofty ambitions for the Xbox brand. The company isn't as concerned about winning a console war as they are about becoming the Netflix of gaming. According to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer, Sacha Nadella, with the acquisition of Bethesda, we metaphorically and literally double our gaming content capacity. This is a big deal, as it's a large step towards Microsoft's plan of releasing a new blockbuster game to quote Xbox Game Studio's head Matt Booty every three or four months. Booty compared the big brands under the Microsoft banner to cultural icons when he said, We need to continue building characters, stories, and worlds that can transcend generations, devices, and platforms. You know, if you look into things like the Marvel characters or the Lord of the Rings, when those Marvel characters were first invented in the 1960s, nobody knew that there was going to be a thing called Netflix. But yet, here we are. And, you know, the Marvel library figures heavily into video streaming. Booty has attempted to downplay the rivalry between Xbox and PlayStation, and it's clear to see why. Microsoft has completely different goals with the coming generation when compared with Sony and Nintendo, as we've shared in a video before, according to head of Xbox Phil Spencer. When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward. That's not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony, but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position. Indeed, it's easy to see that in buying Bethesda, Microsoft is rectifying one of the major problems with Google's own attempt at a gaming subscription service, Stadia. That platform has failed to gain a sizeable audience in large part because of the lack of must-play exclusive games. Ultimately, no matter whether it's a console or a subscription service, games make all the difference. This is why Microsoft are pushing the smaller, less powerful, cheaper Xbox Series S alongside its big sister, the Series X. The company sees the console as a delivery system for games, so it makes sense to make it as accessible as possible. This is also why Microsoft is additionally offering Game Pass on PC, and, if people really want it, mobile. The console is of secondary importance to giving people access to games, and the purchase of Bethesda adds another selection of must-play games to their library. Phil Spencer says that, apparently, Bethesda is a good fit because the higher-ups at the company share Microsoft's vision of the future. Over the years, I've had many deep conversations with the creative leaders at Bethesda on the future of gaming, and we've long shared similar visions for the opportunities for creators and their games to reach more players in more ways. With all this in mind, though, does this mean that Bethesda's games will now be trapped in Game Pass forever? Will it be impossible to play the next Doom on Switch or PlayStation 5? Not necessarily. Microsoft has already allowed many first-party games, such as Obsidian's The Outer Worlds, to release on other platforms. In contrast to the PlayStation 5, Xbox isn't being marketed around its exclusive titles, but rather about the cheap entry point as these games are available for subscribers for free on the day of launch. According to Matt Booty, the question is less binary about should it be on Switch, should it be on PlayStation, and more, does it make sense for the franchise? In other words, is it a kind of game where it would benefit from the network effect of being on a bunch of different platforms, or is it a game where we can best support it by putting resources and making sure that our platforms, things like xCloud and Game Pass and Xbox Live, are really leaning in to support the game? So it seems that, while Microsoft is pushing their subscription service hard, they are also happy to publish their games on PlayStation or Switch when doing so brings in more money. After all, they still have the big advantage of providing these games for free. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft's risky strategy pays off, and the $7.5 billion investment will pay dividends. In fairness, the company definitely deserves respect for taking a chance on an unorthodox idea. Regardless of whether this leads to a big hit for Microsoft, it's nice to see the company take such a big swing.