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[Starfield]

ZeniMax Board Of Directors Dissolved After Xbox's Bethesda Purchase

Following the $7.5 billion sale to Microsoft, ZeniMax's board of directors has been dissolved.

www.gamespot.com

Pete Hines, the senior vice president of global marketing and communications at Bethesda, told GameSpot in an email, "The prior ZeniMax Media Board of Directors has been dissolved."

ZeniMax's board was composed of a variety of executives and celebrities from multiple industries, including Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer, big-name entertainment attorney Ernest Del, former MLB superstar Cal Ripken Jr., former CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, and former MGM CEO Harry Sloan. Private equity executive Michael Dominguez was also on the board. Former US President Trump's brother, Robert Trump, sat on the board until his passing in 2020.

Imo thats a good thing. The board of directors clearly have no knowledge of gaming industry.

More inside the link

edit: interesting detail:

Hines previously spoke to GameSpot about the importance of the media and entertainment background of ZeniMax's board of directors. He said Bethesda had been approached many times over the years to make Fallout and Elder Scrolls movies, but the company rejected every proposal thanks in part to the advice of its board members like Bruckheimer, Moonves, Del, and Sloan.

 

[MMaRsu]

I wish they'd let Pete Hines go. Lying ass

 

[Woody337]

I'm expecting for microsoft to dissolve bethesda. Look at what they have done with most of the studios they have bought before.

 

[Starfield]

I wish they'd let Pete Hines go. Lying ass

Pete is a fine dude man. He shouldn't be engaging TOO much on social media though. He tends to get baited alot.

 

[harmny]

yeah well that's what happens when you buy a company.

 

[The Pleasure]

No game experience?

 

[Andodalf]

I wish they'd let Pete Hines go. Lying ass

Pete is one of the best in the biz

 

[The Pleasure]

Pete is a fine dude man. He shouldn't be engaging TOO much on social media though. He tends to get baited alot.

To be fair, the masters of baiting get every man once in a while.

 

[ManaByte]

Without the Zenimax board around how are they going to publish Elder Scrolls Vi and Starfield multiplat?

 

[Calverz]

I'm expecting for microsoft to dissolve bethesda. Look at what they have done with most of the studios they have bought before.

 

[Starfield]

I'm expecting for microsoft to dissolve bethesda. Look at what they have done with most of the studios they have bought before.

That's not going to happen. They love Bethesda and the way they structured the company. They just didn't like the board.

Without the Zenimax board around how are they going to publish Elder Scrolls Vi and Starfield multiplat?

Spoiler: They wont

 

[ManaByte]

I'm expecting for microsoft to dissolve bethesda. Look at what they have done with most of the studios they have bought before.

You're thinking of EA.

 

[Topher]

 

[Derktron]

I'm expecting for microsoft to dissolve bethesda. Look at what they have done with most of the studios they have bought before.

Wouldn't that be EA? Remember Bioware?

 

[The Pleasure]

You're thinking of EA.

Am i the only one that feels the taint slap seeing rare in there after the kinect years?

 

[Woo-Fu]

Natural process of acquisition. Acquire and then eliminate redundancies/non-profitable segments.

 

[NahaNago]

edit: interesting detail:

Hines previously spoke to GameSpot about the importance of the media and entertainment background of ZeniMax's board of directors. He said Bethesda had been approached many times over the years to make Fallout and Elder Scrolls movies, but the company rejected every proposal thanks in part to the advice of its board members like Bruckheimer, Moonves, Del, and Sloan.

maybe they saw last few dungeons and dragon movies.

 

[Bernkastel]

These are not game devs or even the Bethesda publishing division. This are the executive board of directors of the holding company Zenimax Media who get paid billions every year and get to dictate everything.

I'm expecting for microsoft to dissolve bethesda. Look at what they have done with most of the studios they have bought before.

They have closed less studios then their competition. Before 2017 it was actually an issue with Microsoft not buying studios that were making exclusives for their platform like Bizarre Creations, Bioware and feelplus etc. These studios got bought by other publishers and were shut down/destroyed.

 

[Stuart360]

I'm expecting for microsoft to dissolve bethesda. Look at what they have done with most of the studios they have bought before.

What studios have Microsoft dissolved?

 

[Renozokii]

You're thinking of EA.

Honestly seeing all their studios laid out like it honestly feels like Bethesda is the only studio worth giving a fuck about. So much underwhelming energy from most of those studios.

 

[Clear]

What studios have Microsoft dissolved?

Recently, Lionhead (and Satellites). BigPark, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP and SOTA.

Historically, Ensemble, Access, FASA, among others.

Notably, most were acquired rather than founded by them, as their internal group is a long history of false-starts and failures.

 

[jroc74]

Hines previously spoke to GameSpot about the importance of the media and entertainment background of ZeniMax's board of directors. He said Bethesda had been approached many times over the years to make Fallout and Elder Scrolls movies, but the company rejected every proposal thanks in part to the advice of its board members like Bruckheimer, Moonves, Del, and Sloan.

This is wild considering who was on the board.

I think Fallout coulda been something good as a movie.

 

[Stuart360]

Recently, Lionhead. BigPark, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP and SOTA.

Historically, Ensemble, Access, FASA, among others.

Honestly never heard of any of them, apart from Lionhead. What games did they make?

 

[ManaByte]

Recently, Lionhead. BigPark, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP and SOTA.

 

[DGrayson]

LOL what an insane board of directors.

 

[Stuart360]

LOL what an insane board of directors.

A very weird selection indeed.

 

[ManaByte]

Honestly never heard of any of them, apart from Lionhead. What games did they make?

Lionhead was Peter Molyneux's studio. The others didn't really produce anything else.

As for Ensemble, Access, FASA; Ensemble made Age of Empires. They're still around as the AoE Studio doing the remasters and they're announcing something new today. FASA was Mech Assault, that went away in 2007 (almost 15 years ago), Access made the Links golf game on the PC and the Tex Murphy games. But MS didn't dissolve Access, 2K did.

 

[Stuart360]

Lionhead was Peter Molyneux's studio. The others didn't really produce anything else.

As for Ensemble, Access, FASA; Ensemble made Age of Empires. They're still around as the AoE Studio doing the remasters and they're announcing something new today. FASA was Mech Assault, that went away in 2007 (almost 15 years ago), Access made the Links golf game on the PC and the Tex Murphy games. But MS didn't dissolve Access, 2K did.

Oh so w are going back decades basically. No wonder i didnt recognize many of the names.

 

[GHG]

LOL what an insane board of directors.

You'd be surprised at how common this is.

More often than not "person with lots of money" is the only qualification required.

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Am i the only one that feels the taint slap seeing rare in there after the kinect years?

Might not be our cup of tea but Sea of Thieves is super successful. Discounting Sea of Thieves as nothingburger because it's not your style of gameplay or genre would be like me saying Metallica aren't a good band because I don't listen to their music.

Sea of Thieves: 2024 Edition -

Steam Spy automatically gathers data from Steam user profiles, analyzes it and presents in simple, yet beautiful, manner. Steam Spy is designed to be helpful for indie developers, journalists, students and all parties interested in PC gaming and its current state of affairs.

steamspy.com

 

[ManaByte]

Might not be our cup of tea but Sea of Thieves is super successful. Discounting Sea of Thieves as nothingburger because it's not your style of gameplay or genre would be like me saying Metallica aren't a good band because I don't listen to their music.

Sea of Thieves: 2024 Edition -

Steam Spy automatically gathers data from Steam user profiles, analyzes it and presents in simple, yet beautiful, manner. Steam Spy is designed to be helpful for indie developers, journalists, students and all parties interested in PC gaming and its current state of affairs.

steamspy.com

Sea of Thieves is the best game on the market and people here aren't playing it. I've gotten two people addicted to it.

 

[v_iHuGi]

Well, good riddance.

Acquisition already doing wonders.

 

[Bernkastel]

Recently, Lionhead. BigPark, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP and SOTA.

Historically, Ensemble, Access, FASA, among others.

BigPark, Function Studios, Good Science Studio, Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP), Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP) were not closed, they were consolidated into other studios(like what happened to 989 Studios). Bigpark(and Lift London for that matter) still exists but no longer making games.

BigPark - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Honestly never heard of any of them, apart from Lionhead. What games did they make?

These were small teams(like say 10 people?)of devs functioning as a studio for Kinect/Hololens projects. The plan was to expand them into bigger studios. Only the Coalition got big to be an actual studio. Before they became Coalition this was what the studio was doing.

Microsoft has a new studio in Vancouver, working on a AAA Kinect shooter

This siyrobbo's post in a thread about Microsoft's, Nintendo' and Sony's current internal projects has brought my attention to the existence of a new Microsoft Games Studio in Vancouver. It seems to be called Zipline Studios (not to be be confused with Zipline Games), and their official website...

www.neogaf.com

 

[Spukc]

LOL what an insane board of directors.

like watching suicide squad or something

 

[MMaRsu]

Pete is a fine dude man. He shouldn't be engaging TOO much on social media though. He tends to get baited alot.

Pete is one of the best in the biz

Yeah one of the best at lying through his teeth toward customers who he wants to buy his products.

The best in the biz? The best in what?

 

[Bernkastel]

Seems like Zenimax Online Studios will still keep that "Zenimax" name.

 

[The Pleasure]

Sea of Thieves is the best game on the market and people here aren't playing it. I've gotten two people addicted to it.

I kinda left online gaming. A lot of my gaming is social with friends in the room. Foghting games and party games that I can play in person occupy my time these days. But that launch for sea of thieves was rough.

 

[harmny]

Sea of Thieves is the best game on the market and people here aren't playing it. I've gotten two people addicted to it.

sea of thieves is an amazing game but sadly rare spent all their budget on water tech and great art. if that game had deep systems with customization it would be a 10/10.

it's so static and scripted. they keep improving it though adding content. but what i want are actual systems that you can mess with. for example let me move or decide how many cannons my ship has and where. and that affects the weight and the speed of the ship. things like that.

 

[The Hamburglar]

I’m sure they’re happy when they look in their bank account. I wish Microsoft would buy me out.

 

[ManaByte]

if that game had deep systems with customization it would be a 10/10.

My Battletoads and Banzjo Kazooie ships laugh at your lack of customization opinion.

it's so static and scripted.

How the fuck is a sandbox scripted?!?!?

 

[CeeJay]

sea of thieves is an amazing game but sadly rare spent all their budget on water tech and great art. if that game had deep systems with customization it would be a 10/10.

it's so static and scripted. they keep improving it though adding content. but what i want are actual systems that you can mess with. for example let me move or decide how many cannons my ship has and where. and that affects the weight and the speed of the ship. things like that.

One of the cornerstones of the game is that it will always be accessible to new players and there are only a small number of possible configurations available which allows you to see instantly what you are up against from a long way away. The fact that the only things you can upgrade are cosmetic goes along with this ethos. Everyone starts the game the same and the customisations though limited come from pickups of various storage crates and canon balls along the way. After playing for a while it is a bit of a downer that you cannot alter your configuration more deeply but I think it's perfectly understandable why this is the case. The game is supposed to be fun, approachable and friendly to newcomers which I think it achieves really well and even though the systems lack some depth there is still plenty of scope for creativity and different tactics.

 

[Mistershine.]

I’m sure they’re happy when they look in their bank account. I wish Microsoft would buy me out.

 

[ManaByte]

One of the cornerstones of the game is that it will always be accessible to new players and there are only a small number of possible configurations available which allows you to see instantly what you are up against from a long way away. The fact that the only things you can upgrade are cosmetic goes along with this ethos. Everyone starts the game the same and the customisations though limited come from pickups of various storage crates and canon balls along the way. After playing for a while it is a bit of a downer that you cannot alter your configuration more deeply but I think it's perfectly understandable why this is the case. The game is supposed to be fun, approachable and friendly to newcomers which I think it achieves really well and even though the systems lack some depth there is still plenty of scope for creativity and different tactics.

Not to mention allowing someone to add a shitload of canons to their ship would greatly unbalance a PVP multiplayer game.

 

[Methos#1975]

Wouldn't that be EA? Remember Bioware?

Or Sony, remember Evolution and Psygnosis?

 

[HarryKS]

How is it a good thing or a bad thing? That's standard procedure following an acquisition. Why would you need a board of directors for a company that's not on its own anymore?

 

[JackMcGunns]

I'm expecting for microsoft to dissolve bethesda. Look at what they have done with most of the studios they have bought before.

Cringy

 

[Woody337]

What studios have Microsoft dissolved?

RARE

 

[JackMcGunns]

Recently, Lionhead (and Satellites). BigPark, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP and SOTA.

Historically, Ensemble, Access, FASA, among others.

Notably, most were acquired rather than founded by them, as their internal group is a long history of false-starts and failures.

There's more


Evolution Studios - Closed
Guerilla Cambridge - Closed
Incognito Entertainment - Closed
BigBig Studios - Closed
Manchester Studios - Closed
Liverpool Studios - Closed
Zipper Interactive - Closed
Japan Studio - Soon to be Closed

Oh wait, Sony closed those, my bad.

 

[Derktron]

Or Sony, remember Evolution and Psygnosis?

No, I'm not that old but yeah even Sony. People who are fanboys who are radical in their own ideology think that Sony is the godsend of the gaming industry and act as if Sony hasn't done any harm. Sony may be successful but they didn't get successful for being the nice guy. You have to get dirty and if that includes taking a studio and then killing it off then so be it. I don't think Microsoft would be that stupid enough to treat Zenimax and its games bad as EA did with so many studios in the past. Because that for me would be the end of it. Microsoft better treats Bethesda like kings because if they treat it like garbage people would march to Microsoft headquarters and take Phil Spencer out of the seat. Well enough of me rambling.

 

[deriks]

I wish they'd let Pete Hines go. Lying ass

He's not bad, he just talks a lot

Remember that he is one of the guys that made what Doom is today