Last fall, Xbox and Bethesda tied the knot as only a $7.5 billion corporate merger can. The biggest acquisition in gaming history saw Bethesda, Id Software, Arkane Studios, Zenimax Online, and more all join the Microsoft Studios umbrella to create first-party games for both Xbox consoles and Windows PC.

The deal was announced back in September, but according to Xbox chief Phil Spencer, the origins of the deal go back much further, starting with Bethesda parent company ZeniMax and its owner Robert Altman.

"Robert and I'd had those discussions a few years earlier as well, and just in terms of where his journey was and the journey the teams were on there," said Spencer during a recent podcast with IGN. "So this was a discussion that didn't just come about in months of time, this was over multiple years. We just finally found the right opportunity for both of us--from both an economic standpoint and where the teams were in their journeys."

Altman passed away in February shortly after the Bethesda deal received regulatory approval, with Spencer expressing regret that Altman never got the chance to see the joint Xbox and Bethesda E3 presentation.

Those talks became signed documents in August 2020, which then led to the official announcement from Microsoft soon after.

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As for Todd Howard, Spencer revealed that he'd also had a one-on-one conversation with the Bethesda head-honcho in the months leading up to the official announcement, and it sounded like that chat was pretty emotional.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and I don’t think he’d mind if I shared this,” Spencer revealed. “There was a moment when we both looked at each other when this deal was ready to go down, and we knew we were making a bet on each other.”

Spencer declined to say if Howard had signed a non-compete agreement during the acquisition, but he did say he’s “committed” to this partnership as fiercely as Spencer himself.

Elsewhere in the podcast, you can hear about Spencer’s opinion on the upcoming Fable 4 and how it will remain quintessentially British.

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