Zenimax (Bethesda) acquires id software (holy cow)

[obonicus]

Posting this here because it gets more traffic, but move to PC forum if more appropriate. My editorial comment is: holy cow.

PR found here.

ZeniMax Media Acquires id Software
Brings together two of world’s best game studios
Library of powerhouse franchises will include DOOM, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, QUAKE, Wolfenstein and RAGE

June 24, 2009 (Rockville, MD) – ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of noted game publisher Bethesda Softworks, today announced it has completed the acquisition of legendary game studio, id Software, creators of world-renowned games such as DOOM, QUAKE, Wolfenstein, and its upcoming title, RAGE. The acquisition by ZeniMax Media joins together two of the finest, most respected videogame developers in the world, combining the first person shooter (FPS) expertise of id Software with acclaimed role playing game (RPG) developer Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2008 Game of the Year, Fallout 3, and the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Bethesda Softworks will publish the titles of id Software other than upcoming releases previously committed to other publishers.

Founded in 1991, id Software established itself as an industry leader with some of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed video games of all time. id Software created the original first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D, and subsequently set new standards in the genre with the blockbuster releases of its DOOM and QUAKE titles. In addition, id Software developed cutting edge, proprietary technology with the id Tech engine which powers many notable FPS titles, and continues to make great advances in game technology under the direction of John Carmack, one of the country’s technology leaders and a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) Hall of Fame.

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, commented on 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.”

id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.

“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director. “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. 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, the founder, Chairman & CEO of ZeniMax Media stated, “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.”

ZeniMax Media Inc, which is privately held, was founded in 1999 to create quality interactive entertainment products to meet the growing worldwide demand. The Company is headquartered in Rockville, MD and maintains offices in Hunt Valley, MD, London and Tokyo. Among its wholly owned subsidiaries are Bethesda Softworks, a premier publisher of video games, Vir2L Studios which develops games for the casual market, and ZeniMax Online Studios, a studio dedicated to massively multi-player online games (MMOG).

Bethesda Game Studios, the development group at ZeniMax Media, is one of the top video game studios in the world. Its most recent release, Fallout 3, was the 2008 winner of more than 60 Game of the Year awards, including The Associated Press, Official Xbox Magazine, Yahoo, PC Gamer, IGN, Game Critics Awards, Game Developer Choice Awards, and Gamespy. Bethesda also created the 2006 PC and Xbox 360® Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the 2002 PC and Xbox® Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Bethesda Game Studios has created 2 of the 10 best games of all time, Fallout 3 and Oblivion, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation® 3 platforms, as reported by the industry scoring system found at www.metacritic.com and www.gamerankings.com.

Totilo at Kotaku asks Carmack why they sold:

"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."

 

[Malo]

Wow, that's some big news. 2 very big companies with deep history with the PC..... and posted in the console forum!

 

[pjbliverpool]

I guess that this means future Bethesda games could be running on Id based engines. Thats certainly promising.

 

[obonicus]

Wow, that's some big news. 2 very big companies with deep history with the PC..... and posted in the console forum!

They're both heavily multiplatform. Well, Bethesda is, id is working on it.

 

[liolio]

Damned that a huge news! Crap unexpected and huge.
I see marvelous things coming out of this operations.

I wonder if DeanoC was aware of this merging, the comment about virtual texturing etc. for bling this could go supposely wery well along Id tech 5 and megatexture

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

My first thought was that the founders of ID wanted to sell up and retire (or go build rockets).

After reading the press release, it seems that ID have realised they are too small to take advantage of their IP at the same time as making games engines and developing new IP. I suspect this will free the core of ID around Carmack to make new engine technologies, whilst the rest of the company can now grow and start making games and content around those technologies and the existing ID intellectual property. I guess ID realised (like Epic) that you have to grow if you want to be putting out more than one game every four or five years.

 

[Scott_Arm]

id wasn't leveraging their tech. This is probably a good movie. It's taking them way too long to get any finished goods out the door. Carmack comes up with some new technology, and it takes them ages to get anything more than a tech demo out. This was obviously starting to happen with Doom3.

 

[tabs]

So future Elder Scrolls and Fallout games need not have a crappy engine? This is good news. I've been a fan of ID tech way more than the games (aside Quake 2) and Bethesda games way more than their tech.

It could well be a great blend.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It'd be nice wouldn't it? An Elder Scrolls game with a good engine would be a huge boon to the RPG genre.

 

[obonicus]

So future Elder Scrolls and Fallout games need not have a crappy engine? This is good news. I've been a fan of ID tech way more than the games (aside Quake 2) and Bethesda games way more than they're tech.

Of course, we might get the opposite.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I really hope we see a Oblivion/Fallout style rpg using the id engine. Seems like we could have some interesting open worlds using megatexture, if it all works as it is supposed to.

 

[Nesh]

What about Duke Nukem Forever??????????

 

[NRP]

Holy. Crap.

 

[obonicus]

More stuff from Kotaku.

One of the problems lately, Carmack told Kotaku, is that id just wasn't a good fit with big publishers these days. "As we were shopping Rage and Doom and upcoming stuff, talking about all of that, we were getting a pretty consistent line from all the publishers," he said. "They were willing to continue to fund our working with partner companies for all of these but pretty much ever publisher said, ‘Well, it would be worth much more to us if you would grow your studio and do more of your own work internally. That's why we already started to staff up to do Doom 4 internally. So things were already moving in that direction."

Carmack spoke specifically of Activision, where id's games such as the upcoming Wolfenstein (developed in partnership with Raven), would be published under the same label as works from Activision's internal studios, like Call of Duty and Modern Warfare studios Treyarch and Infinity Ward. "Going back to a much earlier time," Carmack said, "We were just Activision's shooter shop. We did the FPSes there. There was no conflict, and that was great. But they brought on their own internal studios and there's a very real conflict there between whether they want to put resources behind something they own the IP for and derive all the profit for versus something where they don't own the IP and they might feel like any effort they're putting into it isn't going into their value but somebody else's. That problem has grown over the years as budgets have increased."

Which makes sense -- Singularity was very very similar to Wolfenstein, apparently both done by Raven. Only one Activision owns wholly -- which would get the biggest push?

On sharing tech:

And will there be any Bethesda-id crossover coming out of this? "The teams are very much separate," Carmack said. "There is a lot of mutual respect there. There's going to be a lot of communication and cross-pollination. I doubt there's going to be any technology shifts between the two companies, but there's certainly going to be cooperation. And I wouldn't be shocked to see some hints of different things crossing over in different ways. That's just the kind of stuff when you have lots of people who think everybody is working on cool stuff together."

 

[tabs]

Oh well, no Doom 5 on Gamebryo then.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Woah!

 

[assen]

Splash Damage are next on the block, given that they're using id Tech 4, and Bethesda is publishing their next game... they're an obvious target

 

[Richard]

I wonder how EA feel about Rage now. Any sequels will be published by ZeniMax so what's EA's drive to go the extra mile with it? Feed what could possibly be a trilogy of games that will make ZeniId tons of cash?

About the deal: John Romero was right 12 years ago?

About posting in the console forum: it's sad but even I must agree consoles are in the driver's seat. (for now /me shakes fist)

 

[obonicus]

On romero, two tweets of his:
http://twitter.com/theromero/status/2313797026
http://twitter.com/theromero/status/2313979206

I wonder how EA feel about Rage now. Any sequels will be published by ZeniMax so what's EA's drive to go the extra mile with it? Feed what could possibly be a trilogy of games that will make ZeniId tons of cash?

Especially if they label it as Fallout: Rage.

 

[Akumajou]

Of course, we might get the opposite.

Indeed, Id soft has not really proven itself in the console arena as far as sales and even tech but at least Bethesda is going to help with the financials to help them finish their tech as Activision is self sufficient having made so much progress in the console arena.

I am hoping this will make id/JC wake up from their self placed pedestal so that they realize they cannot take "game consoles" lightly when so many other dev teams have made so much progress in tech and profits and being present in gamers minds.