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A new subsidiary division of Microsoft has been created to facilitate its upcoming merger with Bethesda parent Zenimax, with the former giving a nod to the latter's Fallout series by calling the new division 'Vault'.
The information was spotted by Eurogamer, after combing through a document posted on the European Commission's website that pertains to a request for the governing body to approve Microsoft's ongoing $7.5 billion USD acquisition of Zenimax. Amongst the legal stuff, the document reveals: "The concentration is accomplished by way of a merger pursuant to which a newly created Microsoft subsidiary (‘Vault’) will be merged with and into ZeniMax."
It's probably safe to assume that this name is a reference to Bethesda's Fallout series, which regularly features Vaults as safe havens (or, more often than not, questionable scientific experiments) that the people of the series' universe take shelter in from the nuclear war that ravages the world.
As Eurogamer themselves point out, the creation of a subsidiary is apparently a fairly common practice in the corporate world, bringing our attention to the fact that EA recently created 'Codex Games Limited' in order to facilitate their own recent $1.5 billion USD purchase of British developer Codemasters.
As for the Microsoft and Zenimax deal, the document that revealed the 'Vault' subsidiary currently seems to indicate the EC has found no issues with the purchase to go ahead as planned, saying: "On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation," although it does also note "However, the final decision on this point is reserved."
The EU will have to reach said final decision by March 5, 2021.
