How much did Microsoft pay for Bethesda and ZeniMax Media? Answered

gamepur.com:

It will come as no surprise to anyone to say that Microsoft has no shortage of money in their pockets. Before shedding out a dump truck full of cash on Activision Blizzard, the big profile acquisition they made was for Zenimax Media, which came included with Bethesda. Here is how much Microsoft paid to get Bethesda under the Xbox umbrella.

To acquire Bethesda and Zenimax Media, Microsoft paid $7.5 billion. This deal was finalized on March 9, 2021, giving Xbox full access to The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Dishonored, and other Bethesda IPs. The development studios included in the deal are Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, Arkane, Tango Gameworks, ZeniMax Online Studios, MachineGames, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios.

While all Bethesda properties now belong to Xbox, Microsoft has honored past deals made before the acquisition, ending in Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo being PlayStation exclusive games, and previously released games still get support on other platforms like Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. However, the PlayStation port was dropped with new releases that did not have an exclusivity deal and had not been released, as is the case with Starfield, which is an Xbox console exclusive and is also on PC like other Xbox first-party games.