id Software Bought By Bethesda Parent Company, ZeniMax

[Marine Mike]

id Software Bought By Bethesda Parent Company, ZeniMax
By Stephen Totilo, 9:45 AM on Wed Jun 24 2009, 9,745 views

Doom, Fallout, Oblivion, Wolfenstein, Carmack, Howard... all in one company.

Two of the most acclaimed game development studios of all time are joining forces. ZeniMax Media, parent company of Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls development studio Bethesda Softworks, announced today that it is purchasing legendary Doom and Wolfenstein studio id.

In an interview with Kotaku, id co-founder John Carmack, id CEO Todd Hollenshead and ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman said the purchase will change none of the principles or principals of id and Bethesda but will allow id to grow like it never has before. The purchase does not affect plans for previously announced games from id that are slated for release through other publishers, including the Activision-backed Wolfenstein and the EA Partners-planned Rage.

Why did id sell?

"We're really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured," Carmack said. "And we've really gotten more IPs than we've been able to take advantage of. And working with other companies hasn't been working out as spectacularly as it could. So the idea of actually becoming a publisher and merging Bethesda and ZeniMax on there [is ideal.] It would be hard to imagine a more complementary relationship. They are triple A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs. And they have no overlap with all the things we do in the FPSes."

Hollenshead said ZeniMax's acquisition will allow id to grow its internal teams, staffing up the groups working on the next Doom — which will now be a ZeniMax game — and the Quake Live team, for starters.

The goal, explained Carmack, is for id to handle all of its own IPs. "We can build the pipeline and have a regular pipeline of releases."

Altman described the deal as a "win for fans of id." He said the deal came about when Hollenshead approached him. ZeniMax had been looking to acquire developers and wanted id, but didn't know it was available until approached. The merger had been in the works for months, according to the men on the call today.

In a press release for today's news, Altman laid out a vision for a robust id: "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."

No co-developed games are planned at this time. But, they joked, getting those Fallout bobbleheads into Rage would be fun.

[toneloctr]

I could just imagine playing Fallout 4 with FPS aspects of those three games thrown in with Bethesda's knack for RPGs, it could be awesome indeed.

[Nerdkiller likes BD]

Well at least this won't affect the development of Doom 4 and Rage. We really need to know more info about these 2 games. I wonder if you'd be able to play Fallout with Doomguy if possible?

[dk3dknight]

They actually make a good point..

1. "We're really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured
2. We've really gotten more IPs than we've been able to take advantage of.
3. Working with other companies hasn't been working out as spectacularly as it could.
4. They are triple A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs. And they have no overlap with all the things we do in the FPSes.

Oddly enough I think this is great news...

[saprano]

Fallout: doomsday confirmed.

[Twankies08]

Thats a lot of awesome games to held by one company lol

[Steve]

I'm just thrilled to learn there's another Doom coming. Doom 3 is one of my all time favorites and it's about time it gets a release for the current gen consoles.

[Darkhawk9587]

Awesome news. Hopefully some good titles come out of this acquisition, espcially for the PS3.

[shadows4545]

That is awesome news!

[owa]

It does seem like it's good news but it still makes me a little nervous. Hopefully it works out great though.

Originally Posted by fireman325

I'm just thrilled to learn there's another Doom coming. Doom 3 is one of my all time favorites and it's about time it gets a release for the current gen consoles.

Same here.

[Marine Mike]

ZeniMax's id buyout doesn't affect Wolfenstein and Rage
by Griffin McElroy { Jun 25th 2009 at 11:00AM }

We're just one day into the freshly forged relationship between id Software and publishing powerhouse ZeniMax, and we may well be on our way to a bona fide lover's squabble. See, though yesterday's press release from ZeniMax boasted that the company's "library of powerhouse franchises will include DOOM, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, QUAKE, Wolfenstein and RAGE," Electronic Arts and Activision have announced that they're retaining their publishing duties for Rage and Wolfenstein, respectively.

ZeniMax referenced these two parties in the same press release, stating that it would publish all of id's future games "other than upcoming releases previously committed to other publishers." Though both EA and Activision's partnerships with id Software are limited to the aforementioned games, and will effectively end when said titles are released, the temporary presence of these two concubines should make things pretty awkward in the newly built idMax household.