id Software is still a development studio that commands respect, but it’s one that had found itself not quite fitting in of late, its principals told us during a phone interview tied to the announcement of the company’s sale to ZeniMax.

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.”

Hollenshead told Kotaku that he found ZeniMax to have the closest match with id in terms of a philosophy on how to best make and sell games. It was a better fit, he said, than the studio’s recent publishing partners Activision and EA.

What comes out of the deal is a stronger id, the men say. “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 make… 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 quality… 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.”

Carmack’s high on id even now, of course. He said the company just did a “first-look” event for upcoming EA-published, id-developed racing-FPS Rage last week and that it “went spectacularly.”

Doom 4 will be published by ZeniMax/Bethesda. The Wolfenstein and Rage games being made under Activision and EA’s publishing labels will continue as such. But any sequels will be ZeniMax games.

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.”

Terms of today’s deal were not disclosed. ZeniMax and id are private companies.

Two of the most acclaimed game development studios of all time are joining forces. ZeniMax Media, parent company of Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls development studio Bethesda Softworks, announced today that it is purchasing legendary Doom and Wolfenstein studio id.

In an interview with Kotaku, id co-founder John Carmack, id CEO Todd Hollenshead and ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman said the purchase will change none of the principles or principals of id and Bethesda but will allow id to grow like it never has before. The purchase does not affect plans for previously announced games from id that are slated for release through other publishers, including the Activision-backed Wolfenstein and the EA Partners-planned Rage.

Why did id sell?

“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.”

Hollenshead said ZeniMax’s acquisition will allow id to grow its internal teams, staffing up the groups working on the next Doom — which will now be a ZeniMax game — and the Quake Live team, for starters.

The goal, explained Carmack, is for id to handle all of its own IPs. “We can build the pipeline and have a regular pipeline of releases.”

Altman described the deal as a “win for fans of id.” He said the deal came about when Hollenshead approached him. ZeniMax had been looking to acquire developers and wanted id, but didn’t know it was available until approached. The merger had been in the works for months, according to the men on the call today.

In a press release for today’s news, Altman laid out a vision for a robust id: “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.”

No co-developed games are planned at this time. But, they joked, getting those Fallout bobbleheads into Rage would be fun.

Doom 4 comes after Doom 3. But is Doom 4 a sequel to Doom 3? According to id’s Todd Hollenshead, no, it is not a sequel to Doom 3.

Speaking to GameSpot, the id boss said:

It’s not a sequel to Doom 3, but it’s not a reboot either. Doom 3 was sort of a reboot. It’s a little bit different than those, and if I told you why, I would get my arse kicked when I got back. So I’ll just have to leave it at that.

Know what it should be? A sequel to the original. Do “Hell on Earth”, except this time, actually make it look like Earth, and not Mars with a different sky texture. 2009 (well, 2010, more likely) needs rabbit heads on a spike!

Hollenshead Rages about PC gaming, E3 surprises [GameSpot]

id CEO Todd Hollenshead remains unconvinced that there’s a good reason for “independent, Wii-centric” development. He’s willing to hear someone out, he just hasn’t heard a good argument for it yet.

Hollenshead, in an interview with GameSpot, was asked if the Wii’s meteoric sales and success inevitably meant a shift in resources toward third-party development more suited for that platform. Putting it gently, Hollenshead said no.

If you look at the data, the Wii is Nintendo—and then everybody else. And then among everybody else, it’s licensed properties – and then stuff that people lose money on. So, for a really original, game-centric IP, if you’re a third-party developer, I would say, “Show me what makes such a compelling case for the Wii.

That’s not to say he ridicules Nintendo or the platform. Actually, he brings up a point I think we’d all do well to keep in mind: “Sometimes people lose sight of the fact that almost every company doesn’t try to be all things to all people. Nintendo isn’t trying to be all things to all people either.

Of course, this will be the year The Conduit finally releases, published by Sega. But Madworld (also Sega) despite a generous run-up of hype and reasonably good reviews, hasn’t made the kind of splash on Wii analagous to a typical multiplatform drop on the 360 and PS3. That underlines another point Hollenshead made:

Even if we make an awesome game, there’s still a question as to whether we’re going to justify our investment. And also, I mean, if you look at the market, the type of games we traditionally make, those games are selling record numbers on non-Wii platforms.

Would Madworld have done so on PS3 and/or 360?

Hollenshead Rages About PC Gaming, E3 Surprises [Gamestop via Play.tm

Quake Live’s open beta is blowing away id Software’s expectations, so much so the developer is considering working on a free, web browser version of Quake Enemy Territories, said id’s Todd Hollenshead.

“The participation in the open beta is 50 percent higher than what we expected,” Hollenshead said. The beta was perhaps too successful, at least in the raw numbers, with a massive queue forming when the beta kicked off.

It was so bad that id rewarded the players who sat through the wait with a special achievement that showed an angry face with the words: Position in Queue 501337.

But Hollenshead admits the id Software wasn’t exactly sure in the beginning that people who be interesting in playing a nearly ten old game, even if it was for free.

“We didn’t know,” he said. “I had my concerns. Are people going to show up?”

Quake Live is a free version of id’s 1999 Quake III Arena played in a browser and supported by ads. In the first six hours after launch, more than 110,000 accounts were created in the game. Convincing both id they had made the right decision.

“There was an enormous response on day one,” he said. “We were impressed with it.”

The sign ups for the game, also showed where people were playing the game. The top four countries, Hollenshead said, were the U.S., Germany, UK and Poland.

Now the developer is working on the game’s choke points, trying to iron out the hitches in the beta. They’re advertising partner for the game, IGA, is also busy working to sell ads for the game, which appear on load screens and as banners on the stats page.

After id Software makes Quake live a success, Hollenshead says that the company may extend the idea of free web-based games to other titles.

“Probably, the next thing would be Wolfenstein Enemy Territory,” he said. “I think that box games are going to go the way of the buggy whip.”

id Software has a lot on its plate. The developer has its fingers in Wolfenstein, Quake Live, Doom 4 and Rage, maybe even some Wii development. So it’s no surprise that Rage won’t make 2009.

Todd Hollenshead, the ponytailed co-owner and CEO of id Software, drove that point home in the most recent episode of GameTrailers TV. He pegs the first-person shooter action adventure for a 2010 release at the earliest on the PC, Mac, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Not a big surprise, despite the fact that Rage was announced in the Summer of 2007. He’d given the game a very wide release window at last year’s Quakecon, simply saying that the shooter would arrive earlier than 2011. id’s also delivering new technology alongside the game, the bluntly named id Tech 5.

Hollenshead says that development on Rage—which is not a racing game, not quite an open world shooter—is “going well” with gameplay already having been tightened up.

The id CEO also drops extremely brief details on Doom 4, which may simply be called Doom, which Hollenshead says will feature demons, shooting and a guy. Tell us more, Todd!

Seriously, can you tell us a little bit more?

GameTrailers TV: Chapter 2: Doom, Quake & Rage? Oh my! [GameTrailers]

Here’s the run-down:
Also check out our E3 Interview with John Carmack
Next Doom May Not Be a True Sequel
Rage and id’s Love/Hate Relationship with the PS3
id Would Like Another Doom Movie
id Considering Wolfenstein RPG, Doom 2 RPG for iPhone
Hollenshead: E3 Was Pretty Much a Disappointment to Everyone
Does PC Gaming Need a Saviour?

But id CEO Todd Hollenshead, doesn’t totally agree that they have switched sides, or that there even need to be sides for PC gaming to survive.

“That whole PC first thing, you have to go back in id history to see why id initially developed for the PC”, he said.

It used to be, he said, that developers had to change so many things, jump through so many hoops, to get their games on consoles that it just wasn’t worth it for some.

“Wolfenstein 3D, there was a Nintendo version of that, that was like a black day in id history, how they made us change it to run on the Nintendo platform”, he said. Platform owners “wouldn’t let you publish games on the console. We didn’t want to have our content governed by a third-party”.

“But that dynamic isn’t really like there anymore. There are lots of games that have content, whether it’s language or other forms of adult content, that is pushing the bounds of content on all platforms”.

With that hurdle gone, the decision comes down to one of economics, Hollenshead said.

“Our decision about multiplatform is dictated by the market”, he said. “We need to have all of these coordinated and released at the same time because that’s the way to get your game out to the most people”.

And doing that, he says, also allows you to maintain quality control, making sure all of your versions are good.

In many ways, that was the impetus for id Tech 5, to be able to create top notch, quality games for all platforms at the same time.

“So there is no stepdown or dilution between platforms”, he said.

But that doesn’t mean that Hollenshead and id Software thinks PC gaming isn’t important anymore.

“I think there are still some problems in the PC market”, he said. “There are issues in the market from a business standpoint, which means having a PC only title that the level of investment to make a triple A game is a tough thing if your not doing a subscription model”.

id actually thought about tinkering around with a subscription model for some of their games, but in the end realised it wasn’t a good fit for what they create.

“To open that up for the type of games we make isn’t really appealing to us”, he said. “World of Warcraft I can understand that, they have a service based aspect to that game. With our games we have always been about the free multiplayer stuff”.

Despite that, id still sees PC gaming as viable platform for games, even some exclusive games.

“Obviously Quake Live is only pc and we certainly hope we do well with that”, he said. “We still feel PC is a very important market. “

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id’s upcoming open-world shooter Rage, he told the assembled gamers, will look worse on the Xbox 360 because of storage issues.

I asked id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead about that this morning, now that the comment has had time to sink into gaming forums worldwide.

“That’s a pretty gross over simplification”, he said. And it was. In fact Carmack’s and Hollenshead’s views on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as platforms are fairly complex. While Carmack has long said he thinks that the architecture of the Xbox 360 is better, it sounds like he and others at id Software feel that the PS3 has done a much better job of future proofing.

This issue with Rage? It’s just the tip of the iceberg unless something is done.

The problem with Rage is two fold, Hollenshead tells me. First there is the economics of spreading a game across multiple discs. The more discs you use the higher production costs are.

“We have concerns (about the 360 version of Rage) because of the economics of the platform in terms of what it costs to go to multiple discs”, Hollenshead said. “There is disc space issue on the 360, and if we cant find a clever way or compromise with Microsoft to address that issue… even though we feel the 360 has superior hardware, the size limitations may mean that we may not have as much texture density or resolution on the 360 version.

“Let me be clear, this is an open question, we have these tech issues and we are working with Microsoft to solve them”.

And the issue isn’t just about the game being too big, Hollenshead says that developers lose upwards of 2 gigs of space per a disc because of information Microsoft requires developers to put on the discs.

While allowing the game to be installed on the Xbox 360’s harddrive may help, it actually wouldn’t solve that problem, Hollenshead added.

While spit-balling ideas and possible solutions, Carmack even talked about the possibility of streaming some game data to Xbox 360s through the Live service, but that raises a litany of other issues, like how you would ensure that all of your gamers had a harddrive or broadband connections.

Ironically, early on Carmack was pretty clear on the fact that he felt the Playstation 3’s cell technology was not the boon it was made out to be to developers.

“I know that John is pretty much brass tacks on these issues and before the PS3 was ever released he raised the same issues then as now”, Hollenshead said. Sony “had a bunch of hardware engineers talking about theoretical power, but (Carmack) said ‘yeah, this isn’t how software people work’ and they said ‘yeah, this is how they should work.’”

To date, Carmack still feels the architecture of the Playstation 3 doesn’t deliver the power promised. But Hollenshead points out that there’s no use crying over spilled milk.

“Complaining about that is sort of a worthless exercise at this point”, he said. “The PS3 is what it is and it’s not going to change. You have to adapt. That’s what we have done with id tech 5″.

One of the promises of id Software’s new engine is that it will make cross-platform development a breeze. Something Hollenshead said is proven with Rage.

“Today we are saying that Rage may look better on the PS3 than the 360″, he pointed out.

While id may not be fans of the Playstation 3’s architecture, they are fans of how future proof the console seems to be.

“I think the blu-ray strategy and some of the other things they’ve done in terms how (the PS3) is positioned as a home entertainment device, shows that (Sony) is placing their bet on the PS3 as a marathon runner not a sprint and Microsoft was a little more focused on the short term goals”.

Storage, and Microsoft’s early insistence that the Xbox 360 wasn’t going to run into issues with its DVD-based games, is a key win for Sony, he said.

“As soon as you start saying you have enough memory, you better hide and watch brother”.

“The next game in the Doom universe is in development”, id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead told me earlier today. ” We do have the core of the team working on it, under the direction of Kevin Cloud.

“We are working on what the story is going to be for the game right now, the logo (shown during QuakeCon) didn’t have a four or a subtitle. We haven’t made the decision about that yet. There is probably a let’s not make a numeral game and some say we should make it one”.

While there isn’t a lot to tell yet about the upcoming Doom game, Hollenshead told me everything he was able.

The game will be built on the id Tech 5 and will remain true to it’s roots, he said.

“There’s going to be big guns, lots of blood and demons”, Hollenshead said. “That’s what we see as the core and that’s what that game is about.

While Hollenshead said the development team definitely want to innovate with the game, it’s too early to tell how exactly that will be done.

“We are still working on the game and what it’s going to be about”, he said. “The goal for the game is that it will be the best game of its ilk when it’s released.

“It will remain true to what Doom is about, this very visceral experience. But we still want to obviously be innovative within that”.

Check back for the rest of our Hollenshead interview throughout the day.

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