Bethesda parent company buys id Software

PALGN News | John Carmack is pleased.

Yesterday ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks - responsible for Fallout 3 and the Elder Scrolls series - announced that it had accquired id Software, the fame developed which has produced the likes of Doom and Quake.

Everything will still more or less function the same at id, according to ZeniMax, with no interference in the day-to-day runnings of the company. In addition, Wolfenstein will still be published by Activision, while Rage will still be backed by EA.

"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," said id Software co-founder John Carmack in a carefully worded press release.

Carmack also told Kotaku why the merger happened, citing differences with publishers as the main reason.

"We're really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured," explained Carmack. "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."

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13 Comments

Ka-Pom

2 years ago

Quote

They are triple A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs.

I laughed. A lot.

I got a little scared when I read the title. At least Zenimax and Bethesda will have no impact on any of the games, which is a huge relief.

grim-one

2 years ago

I laughed at John Romero's reaction. Consolidation isn't that unusual but id always seemed happy and successful as an independent developer.

stick_theory

2 years ago

Did Bethesda not make the other Fallouts?

G3ck0

2 years ago

stick_theory wrote

Did Bethesda not make the other Fallouts?

Interplay did, I think.

Sin Ogaris

2 years ago

Yeah, it was Interplay, that's why they were awesome (except the god awful time limit in the first game, time limits need to burn in Hell).

Ka-Pom

2 years ago

stick_theory wrote

Did Bethesda not make the other Fallouts?

Nope, and that's why they were awesome, and just like Sin said the time limit of the first was a pain in the arse.

And I believe Interplay are helping out with Fallout Vegas.

Sin Ogaris

2 years ago

I didn't know about Interplay's involvement in Vegas, if that means there will be missions reminiscent of San Remo I am 100% for it in every way, shape and form. Best city from Fallout II.

Vervain

2 years ago

Interplay aren't having a direct involvement with New Vegas at all. The game is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment which has a large amount of former Interplay employee's who worked on the original Fallout games.

Ka-Pom

2 years ago

Vervulus Maximus wrote

All the same to me.

As long as Bethesda have as little involvement as possible, I am happy.

Skiller

2 years ago

Sambo110 wrote

Interplay did, I think.

Sin Ogaris wrote

Yeah, it was Interplay

ARGH!!!! This is why publishers should all be shot, dismembered and put through a combine havester. Interplay was the PUBLISHER, the publisher DOES NOT MAKE THE GAME, they fund it, advertise it, make a whole heap of stupid decisions that will usually make a game worse and that the DEVELOPER (who actually does make the game) is forced to implement and then the publisher TAKES CREDIT for any good press and blame the developer for any issues. Publishers also stuff their games full of forced self promotion, you know those intro logos that can't be skipped? 90% of the time those are for the publisher, and you know those ones that can be skipped? Those are usually the developer's because the developer at least understands how annoying forced movies are and lets you skip theirs. Not to mention publishers are the ones that make all the big money in games while the developers are left making as little as a third of what they should be paid for their skills and forced to work overtime to meet ridiculous and arbitary deadlines put forth by publishers.

Black Isle where the DEVELOPERs for Fallout 1/2 and they also made heaps of other great RPGs, they are the ones that deserve the credit not the publishers.

Whoops sorry for the rant, havn't had much sleep as I've been pretty busy at work lately so I'm a little touchy atm

Sin Ogaris

2 years ago

My bad, I should have known seeing as you couldn't play an RPG in those days and NOT have it made by Black Isle.

Which just means that Fallout: Vegas is going to be as dull and boring as Fallout 3 was.

Ka-Pom

2 years ago

I thought it was Black Isles. I only said Interplay because everyone else was.......

Sin Ogaris wrote

Which just means that Fallout: Vegas is going to be as dull and boring as Fallout 3 was.

Its true, even with those few ex Black Isles employees Fallout cannot be saved by the cold and **** creating hands of Bethesda. I just hope Obsidian keeps them on a leash.

grim-one

2 years ago

Sin Ogaris wrote

My bad, I should have known seeing as you couldn't play an RPG in those days and NOT have it made by Black Isle.

Black Isle weren't actually the main developer on many games. Fallout 1&2, Icewind Dale 1&2, Planescape Torment and BG Dark Alliance II. They assisted BioWare on several big titles though.

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