Microsoft announced its intention to buy ZeniMax, Bethesda’s parent company, last September. Currently, they are still in the process of obtaining permission to take ZeniMax’s hand in corporate marriage from all necessary legal and legislative bodies and from everyone. As part of that process, Microsoft is apparently planning to create a new company called “Vault”, with which ZeniMax will merge. But, unlike the initial reports (including ours), the beautiful name is only temporary.
The name appears in a notification to the European Commission, whose permission Microsoft has requested to proceed with the planned $ 7.5 billion purchase of ZeniMax and its subsidiaries, including Bethesda Game Studios, iD Software, Arkane and others.
“The merger is carried out through a merger under which a newly created Microsoft subsidiary (‘Vault’) will be incorporated into ZeniMax,” says the relevant part of the notice.
However, in the midst of today’s uproar, UESP staff pointed that another January protocol makes it clear that the name will not last. “After this merger, Vault will cease to exist and ZeniMax will survive, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft,” he says. Then Vault will be vaulted, lost like so many vault dwellers trapped in strange experiments.
Shortly after its original purchase announcement, Microsoft confirmed that it intends to honor the planned timed PS5 exclusivity for Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo. They also said they want to buy more studios, making them one of the giant companies that swallow up the game studios and further consolidate the game industry.