Fallout studio Bethesda Softworks has acquired id Software, it's announced. We're not joking.
ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, has confirmed it's completed the acquisition of the veteran Doom and Quake developer, though "upcoming releases previously committed to other publishers", i.e. EA and Rage, aren't affected.
According to the release id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of founder and tech guru, John Carmack. "No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games," says Bethesda.
"All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio," it says.
Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, said of the transaction: "This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles. In addition, we will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans."
Carmack said of the deal: "This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward. We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them.
Rage: Leipzig trailer
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Rage: Leipzig trailer
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"We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am."
Robert Altman, CEO of ZeniMax chucked in his 2p: "We, along with many others, consider id Software to be among the finest game studios in the world, with extraordinary design, artistic and technical capabilities. They have demonstrated, repeatedly, that rare ability to create franchise properties that are critical and commercial successes. Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best - make AAA games. Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand."
If it means more games from id and less farmed out to other developers, then we're pleased.
I think this could be good if they try to learn from each other. Bethesda have some great sandbox gaming and a lot of deep customisation options, iD have a history of revolutionising the FPS genre. A world with both of them doing their thing could be great.
And EA haven't screwed up Bioware just yet. It's looking like EA have turned over a new leaf with some risky new IPs like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge getting good reviews. So hopefully that one will be fine.
Gotta agree with what people have said already. These are two great gaming companies coming together and I wish them well. Now I'm waiting for a Fallout 3-style RPG set in the Doom universe.
It's nice to see a developer not getting carried away with Ł signs and getting snapped up by the truly big boys (EA, Activision) but actually thinking about what will happen to their studio and employees after the merger. And about the quality of the games.
Even with Bethesdas recent success, it must have cost them a pretty penny to snap up ID like that without so much as an inkling it was gonna happen.
Just a brief reflection. It's about the core gamers like us, the people that have gaming deep in their heart. Has nothing to do with quantity of time spent, but quality in gaming love... hope you know what I mean.
When a merge like this happens it can feel somewhat removed from my own personal world. A big multi kazillion business thing that I have no control over or influence on. I just read the outcome on the internet. Then it strikes me. We, the gamers/consumers/fans actually are the core of all this. The segment that makes all this happen. And it is OUR choice that has a direct impact on which games make it and which games don't. (I'm not talking about the whole new wii casual generation, though I now they have a mighty big saying also) Anyway, we reward the good developers by bying their games and in these times, financial crisis and huge costs for AAA attempts, a company can't afford to fail that many times. (Grin may turn out to be an example) All this is happening so quickly now, that had it not been for ElderScrolls and Fallout3 succeeding, things would have looked so much different and someone else would have bought someone else and the whole scene would have looked different. Closing up: This is why we do make an impact, when we buy the good games the money roll that way. So be sane and buy good games! We gotta make them strong enough to stay in the competition. In the end there will only be a handfull of really big publishers and they will buy up all new talent to strenghten them selves and avoid even more competition. Some of these really big puplishers will have to be the good guys, or it will all go down the drain eventually. Gaming quality, I mean. (the bad guys would be making the mainstream games which we don't like but sell loads, but it's a metafor and no offence offcousre) We bought games like Fallout3. This is our reward. Two of the good gyus just grew into one even bigger.
Just saw ROTF tonight, premiere night and all. Nice robots. Probably what made me write this whole thing. Reminded me of Transformer robots fusioning and merging. Ok, I'm still stoned, I admit...
Doom III was average and I didn't even bother with Quake Wars.
They need a kick up the f*cking bottom to be honest as they have gone stale and have been overtaken by devs that do what they do much better.
I mean Epic, Valve, Gearbox excetera have all left them in their wake. I'm sceptical about this Rage game but hearing about all the probs they're having with the differing console version etc I ain't got much hope there
Also, Carmack is one of the strangest humans I've ever gazed upon if you watch him in an interview and the way he speaks
Wow. I didn't see this one coming. Congrats to the parties involved; may the both find much success and satisfaction and may the gaming public find at least as much if not more.
As for iD engine tech being used for Elder Scrolls 5...Can we finally expect to see pretty faces not brought about by private mods?
There has been a bit of a stale air about iD the past few years, IMO yet with the imminent release of the new Wolfenstein game in collaboration with Raven, as well as RAGE and perhaps more, it seems to me iD is still in the fight, alive and kicking.
Bethesda and Id could be a match made in heaven. Bioware with a developer I've never heard of... Well, you don't f**k with the good name Bioware have TBH.
Although EA have improved massively over the last 18 months; I can see the Bioware reputation and name disappearing much like Westwood, Bullfrog, etc.
This is a great news. especially if it'll give ID the resources to make great games faster.
The whole EA, Bioware merger is one of the best things to happen in gaming for years IMO, because what a lot of people have failed to observe is that the head of bioware is now the Vice President of EA and a lot of the other big players in bioware now have prominent roles within EA.
Which basically is why EA have started to return to being the company we all loved in the 16bit days. I think if they hadn't merged with Bioware we probably wouldn't of seen them taking so many chances.
The Activiosn blizzard merger on the other hand has basically created a very hungry monster that seems to suck the fun out of everything it touches.
check this out dudes its about MS sending new kits to develepors with some special features to unlock 360s .http://www.gamezine.co.uk/news/formats/xbox360/xbox-secrets-the-truth-about-xbox-360-relaunch--$1305320.htm like sony does with 1st party sutdios does this mean were gonna have to buy new 360s plzzz read
Well this could be a brilliant merger. Bethesda now have a fantastic team to work with and letting them run by themselves is the best part. The best mergers it seems are the ones where the parent company don't mess with the merged company too much.
I wonder how this will affect the games coming out of both teams though which will be an interesting thing to look out for!
This is a great news. especially if it'll give ID the resources to make great games faster.
The whole EA, Bioware merger is one of the best things to happen in gaming for years IMO, because what a lot of people have failed to observe is that the head of bioware is now the Vice President of EA and a lot of the other big players in bioware now have prominent roles within EA.
Which basically is why EA have started to return to being the company we all loved in the 16bit days. I think if they hadn't merged with Bioware we probably wouldn't of seen them taking so many chances.
The Activiosn blizzard merger on the other hand has basically created a very hungry monster that seems to suck the fun out of everything it touches.
I agree with your observation about BioWare head honchos becoming head honchos at EA. However, it does bear worth noting that the games released by EA the past year - games such as Dead Space, for example - had to have been in development for years which means that some of those changes we see with EA today were probably already well underway long before BioWare was acquired by EA. That BioWare may help expand on this change is quite possible, but I doubt they are the initial catalyst for the groundwell change.
check this out dudes its about MS sending new kits to develepors with some special features to unlock 360s .http://www.gamezine.co.uk/news/formats/xbox360/xbox-secrets-the-truth-about-xbox-360-relaunch--$1305320.htm like sony does with 1st party sutdios does this mean were gonna have to buy new 360s plzzz read
Why would we need to buy new 360's? The way I read that piece was that it benefits developers by helping them to create games in an easier fashion. More memory to test, new engine to get the most out of the console, etc.
sweatyBallacks? - "Doom 3 was average." Doom 3 was average? Doom 3... was... average?
No matter how many times I say it I can't seem to get my head around it! You must have played it on Xbox. Or an extremely low-end PC. Or you simply haven't played it! Atmosphere was brilliant, story was better than most FPS's out there. Average... AVERAGE! Ha! *boggled*
As for the article. I'd like to wait and see. The story for every software house seems to be: if the publishers keep their noses out of the developers business, then the developers do a great job. If you were a publisher and id told you they needed more time, or money, or whatever to make their next game a hit... you'd wouldn't question them. Twenty years in the biz and still going strong... DON'T mess with that!
Wolfenstein is a must purchase for me. I've been Quaking since Quake. But I'd deffo be interested to see whether id can generate new IP any time soon.
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