Id Software, the company behind such revered franchises as Doom and Quake, has just been purchased by Zenimax Software, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Yes, THAT Bethesda, the company that brought us all The Elder Scrolls franchise and Fallout 3.
Does the acquisition mean that The Elder Scrolls V will be based on the Doom engine, or that the next Fallout will be extensively a first-person shooter? Hardly. In fact, Bethesda’s parent company expects little to change in either company’s day-to-day operations. The announcement does, however, mean Activision will no longer be publishing Id’s games, as they have in the past.
“Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand,” said Robert Altman, ZeniMax Media founder and CEO. “Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best: make AAA games.”
So what does industry luminary John Carmack make of all this?
“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,” Carmack surmised. “We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future.”
Although id’s Doom engine can seem tired at times, it’s arguably better technology than what Bethesda used on Oblivion and Fallout 3, so we here at DailyGame can’t wait to see what the next chapters in those series hold for the future.