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ZeniMax Media (Bethesda) Acquires id Software (PR)

Darklord said:
Why? As long as they don't screw id up, which they said they won't, I see no problem.

Bethesda aren't even making it.
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sorry EA's past makes me trust mergers as far as I can throw their buidlings, and yeah a Rage powered Fallout, will probably be 4.
 
TurtleSnatcher said:
Valve just feels so tied to EA now.. I don't even consider them independent anymore
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wat
element said:
Valve really isn't independent anymore. They are pretty much their own publisher with Steam, and generate majority of their profits from Steam.
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Sooo they don't depend on anyone but themselves...

How is that not being independent?
 
Does this have a lot to do with id properties made by other teams (ie: Quake Wars) not selling so well? They've only put out one internally developed game in the past decade, so it is not like they had a string of internal bombs.
 
Mooreberg said:
Does this have a lot to do with id properties made by other teams (ie: Quake Wars) not selling so well? They've only put out one internally developed game in the past decade, so it is not like they had a string of internal bombs.
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im guessing epic really hamstrung their engine revenue, DAMN YOU CLIFFORD B!
 
ZombieSupaStar said:
im guessing epic really hamstrung their engine revenue, DAMN YOU CLIFFORD B!
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Yeah but they haven't even released an engine competitive with UE3. Doom III came out around the time games were using UE 2.5

If they needed engine revenue to stay independent, you'd think they'd have released one in the nearly five years it has been since Doom III came out. By the time Rage comes out UE3 will have been around for four years.
 
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/how-id-and-bethesda-will-work-together/1472/

How Id And Bethesda Will Work Together

Kotaku's Stephen Totilo flexed his journalistic muscle this morning with a first-out-of-the-gate interview with id Software's John Carmack and Todd Hollenshead about their company's just-announced acquisition by ZeniMax, the company that also owns Bethesda.

Immediately after the news hit, we started seeing speculation all over the place about how the two development studios will work together. And for good reason. With id leveraging its immense technological advantage and Bethesda bringing its open-world role-playing chops to the table, far-flung ideas like the next Fallout or Elder Scrolls game running on id's super-impressive-looking id tech 5--which already powers Rage--don't seem so terribly outlandish. Though they do seem terribly awesome.

Anyway, Totilo rightfully addressed the topic of what kind of beautiful music Bethesda and id might make together in his story.

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."

Sounds like nobody's rushing into anything, though who knows what the future holds? These are two respected developers with what I feel are pretty different strengths, so any way they can collaborate together seems like a win-win for the consumer. Hollenshead feels the same way about the ZeniMax ownership; he had this to say about how the deal will affect the day-to-day business at id.

"Things aren't really going to be different in terms of what's going on at id," Hollenshead said. "We're not going to change the kinds of games we makeÂ…. It allows us to accelerate the growth of our internal studios, so we can focus on making all of our internal games as opposed to working with external partners where there has been a step down in qualityÂ… There will be more, better games from id. So if you're a fan of the company, then it is all upside and all things to look forward to."

That quote about "external partners" and a "step down in quality" seems like a pointed dig at studios like Splash Damage and Raven, which have respectively done Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and both Quake 4 and the upcoming Wolfenstein under the id banner. But the guy seems to have a point. I'll be really curious to see how Doom 4 turns out, since it will probably be the first major id title to be developed almost entirely under the auspices of ZeniMax. Wolf and Rage will be published by Activision and EA, respectively, per existing agreements.

Id may not be the 800-pound gorilla it was in the mid-'90s, but this news still blew my mind this morning. Those guys have always had such a reputation of fierce independence, part of me thought they would never sell out, never submit to any degree of control by an outside party. I guess no company stays the same forever, though if all the details of this acquisition are as much on the up-and-up as they're purported to be, I'm hopeful id will at least remain a company that makes some pretty sweet games.

How does this news strike you? What was the first id game you played? Mine was the boxed shareware version of Doom, the original, which I bought in a Babbage's for maybe $5 and which went on to completely and utterly blow my young mind before quite literally changing my life in a nontrivial way. So I've always had and always will have a certain place in my heart for id.
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While I do understand everyone knocking GameBryo, the engine is probably one of the most versatile engines out there. Civ4 was actually created on this engine, amongst other games.

On the other hand, having direct ownership of technology is a big plus for Bethsoft/Zenimax since they no longer have to rely on 3rd party support for the engine.
 
This is the most shocking gaming news i've heard all year. Wow. I don't know what to expect out of this. Does anybody, really?
 
Masklinn said:
wat

Sooo they don't depend on anyone but themselves...

How is that not being independent?
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Yeah, GAF is full of senseless nerdrage.

Valve is probably the most successful independent developer in existance.
 
"Things aren't really going to be different in terms of what's going on at id," Hollenshead said. "We're not going to change the kinds of games we makeÂ…. It allows us to accelerate the growth of our internal studios, so we can focus on making all of our internal games as opposed to working with external partners where there has been a step down in qualityÂ… There will be more, better games from id. So if you're a fan of the company, then it is all upside and all things to look forward to."
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Too true. I'm not sure why they thought handing Quake over to someone else was a good idea.
 
ultim8p00 said:
So was ID in any sort of financial trouble? For some reason I'm not having a good feeling about this.
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Doubtful. They had no problems continuing on without a publisher for several years on Rage. They didn't even shop around for a publisher until several years in development.
 
http://twitter.com/theromero/status/2313797026

http://twitter.com/theromero/status/2313979206

John Romeros response.Also for those of you talking about ids engine licensing there goal is not to become a middleware organisation like Epic.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6207773.html

id TECH 5 REVS ITS ENGINE
GS: Now, let's talk about the id Tech 5 engine. How hard is it breaking into a middleware market that is pretty much dominated by Epic Games' Unreal engine?

Steve Nix: Well, we don't have to break in, because id was one of the original tech licensees, as is [Wolfenstein-maker] Raven [Software]. There are a number of studios throughout the world who are evaluating id Tech 5 right now, and we don't disclose licenses that haven't been announced for games yet.

However, our goals are obviously going to be different from Epic's. I mean, Epic does a great job with their engine technology license, and they're very dominant right now. There are a number of other engines out there--the Infernal engine, Gamebryo--that are sort of going for a larger market share. But id's goal has always been to work with a small set of high-quality partners who are going to build really, really great games full of technology. It's not to build a large middleware technology organization.

Also, we are primarily a game developer. It just so happens that we create, in our opinion, the best technology in the world, and we occasionally license it out to other game developers. Games like Half-Life, Call of Duty, and Medal of Honor use our technology. But again, our goal is not to be a middleware organization.

The other thing is that, with respect to the way we've always done technology, is we're very careful with what we promise is going to be in the Tech, so that it's actually there when we do it. So we've been guarded about getting it out to people until we knew how things were ultimately going to work out. It's only been recently that all the things that we expected to happen are now working, or demonstrable.
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4sw0swsw4sw2sw3.gif


NeoGAF is old man - id Software is the other guy :lol :lol :lol
 
Joseph Merrick said:
hopefully Quest won't be ruined by this. hehe


well they were trying to expand into two full teams
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Is Quest still being made?I think id was going to make it instead of Doom 3 and then it got passed on to Nerve.
 
If this means that the next TES will run well on day one, then I'm stoked. I'm not sure why some are saying that this is bad for PC's since Bethesda has been the only one to release games on the PC in years.
 
CabbageRed said:
If this means that the next TES will run well on day one, then I'm stoked. I'm not sure why some are saying that this is bad for PC's since Bethesda has been the only one to release games on the PC in years.
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I agree, but your second sentence is incorrect...specifically the latter part.

WHOAguitarninja said:
On the downside...this probably means that we won't have the super candid and frank John Carmack we've grown used to.
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I disagree with this. Even after Creative Labs and id Software settled the Doom 3 patent issue, Carmack was still mouthing off.
 
Wow, this is big news. These two publishers are both incredibly old (relatively speaking)... interesting to see them collide.
 
Chiggs said:
I agree, but your second sentence is incorrect...specifically the latter part.
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Oops, what am I missing? I know that there were a handfull of games using their IP's but I thought Doom 3 was their last game.
 
id having the ability to focus solely on making games/engines without fussing around constantly with the business side of things?

What's not to like?


It's not like they're going to be pressured with constant release dates - it's id.
 
Joseph Merrick said:
hope so. I dream of nerve still plugging away at Quest hehe
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I dont think it is still being worked on but there is concept art of it here.

http://www.brianpatenaude.com/portfolio_environments-02.htm

Heres another guy that worked on it.He mentions when it was in development.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jay-brushwood/13/51b/821

Quest - Unreleased Game 2001-2002
-Modeled, rigged, and animated character/environmental models.
-Created several concept art pieces for the various locations.
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Nerve have been around a long time and have yet to really make anything of there own which is sad.
 
CabbageRed said:
Oops, what am I missing? I know that there were a handfull of games using their IP's but I thought Doom 3 was their last game.
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Maybe I misread you, but it seemed like you were saying that Bethesda has been the only company to release games on the PC in recent years.
 
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