Earlier this week the makers of post-apocalyptic video game hit Fallout 3 bought the developers behind famed shooter Doom putting two of the most reapected talent pools in the industry under one umbrella.  

The result, analysts and Zenimax says, will be studios that can spend more time on the creative process and less cutting deals with outside publishers. It also will mean the blending of the technological prowess and creative artistry of two of the most respected game makers in the industry.

The deal, though, is likely the sign of the times says Billy Pidgeon.

“Those stuck between small independent studios and mega publishers are very vulnerable,” he said. “A good strategy is to look at where a developer can win.”

That means focusing more on niches and, when necessary, buddying up with another niche developer. In the case of id Software and Bethesda, the two are each masters of a certain type of game: first-person shooters and role-playing games respectively.

“It is possible to narrow to a niche and then dominate in that space, so you can compete better,” he said. “A lot of people are going to be disappointed that id didn’t remain independent, but it’s tough to be independent and these mini-consolidations are better than, say, being swallowed up by Ubisoft.”

Pidgeon says he thinks this is just the first of what will be more of these mini-consolidations, developers buddying up so they can publish their own games instead of having to pay a chunk of their profits to larger companies to get their games out.

Michael Pachter agrees, saying that he wouldn’t be surprised if Zenimax were to purchase or team up with other leading developers like Gears of War creator Epic Games and Left 4 Dead developers Valve.

“For Valve and Epic to stay independent maybe they ought to roll up together,” Pachter said. “If Zenimax brought in Epic and Valve then suddenly you would have a powerhouse.”

The impetus for these consolidations, he says, is that increasingly the larger publishers are less interesting in promoting and publishing games that are created and owned by other developers.

“Publishers have abandoned third-party developers and everything is moving in-house,” he said.

The desire for the creative talent behind an endeavor to own the product of their work isn’t limited to games. In 1919, Charlie Chaplain, Douglass Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith, tired of earning money for big movie studios, consolidated their talents to form their own studio: United Artists.

“Bethesda and id getting together is like United Artists getting together,” Pachter said. “They got together because they were tired of being employees. They decided they want to own the IP.”

“That’s what Zenimax is doing. Bethesda and id are independent developers and the fact that they are going to stay independent is good.”

The idea of Zenimax buying up or partnering with other talented developers isn’t just a theory, it’s one of the reasons the company raised $US300 million in 2007.

“We continue to have discussions with a variety of third-party publishers which make the kind of games we like and has the kind of folks we do business with,” said Pete Hines, a spokesman for Bethesda Software. “We’ve heard from a lot of people from every quarter since this news came out.”

That’s how the deal with id Software started, as a friendly conversation between Zenimax Ceo Robert Altman and id president Todd Hollenshead.

“They were talking about what we could do together,” Hines said. “And the more they talked the more they realised that if we got together the whole would be better than the sum of its parts.”

It would also allow id to get away from the biggest problem they have, being a small cog in a much larger publisher’s machine.

“Now they get to be a whole part of the process and the know the publisher will be fully behind them,” Hines said.

Under the new arrangement id Software will remain mostly untouched and be allowed to do what they do best: Make solid games. But the deal will give id Software the ability to expand their stable of developers, said Hines, who had just returned from a trip to id Software’s Texas studio.

Already the company is preparing to ramp up their studio from two development teams to three, he said. That means there’s a better chance that they will be able to keep the development of their four key game franchises— Doom, Quake, Rage and Wolfenstein— all in-house and rely less on outside development studios.

There’s also quite a bit of excitement around the idea of Carmack, widely known as a skilled programmer, helping Bethesda tackle some of the issues they’ve run into in game development. That could mean everything from helping Bethesda create iPhone games and Bethesda helping id on downloadable content for their games to the two solving more technical issues together.

“We also hope from a creative standpoint,” Hines said, “that (the two studios) can do more together.”

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.

Vir2L Studios is bringing the sights, sounds, and smells (hopefully not) of the Middle Ages to the Wii with Medieval Games, which might have been more accurately titled Ye Olde Mini-Game Collection.

Medieval Games will have you and up to three of your closest friends compete in a variety of medieval activities. There’ll be the historicaly accurate storming of castles, catapulting, and archery contests, along with a bit of your more fictitious medieval fare, such as battling dragons.

The game is being developed by N-Fusion Interactive, to be published by Vir2L Studios, one of ZeniMax Media’s more colorfully named companies. While it certainly sounds like a mini-game compilation, at least they are wrapping it around an interesting theme. I’d point you to the press release for more information, but you really won’t find any. Huzzah! This game shall exist! That is all we need to know.

Vir2L Studios Announces Medieval Games for Wii
(Rockville, MD) – Vir2L® Studios, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today Medieval Games™ for the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo. Medieval Games allows you to experience the excitement of days of old with up to three of your friends.

From battling dragons and storming the castle, to catapulting and archery contests, Medieval Games offers hours of fun for the entire family. Choose from a variety of colorful characters, such as the knight, princess, bard, or wizard as you compete in a variety of game modes. Tournaments and jousting await in this rich fantasy world!

Medieval Games is currently under development at N- Fusion Interactive and will be published by Vir2L Studios. Medieval Games has not yet been rated by the ESRB. For more information, visit www.Vir2L.com.

Fallout 3 Screenshots [CNG4U and Catchplay, via No Mutants Allowed]

It’s safe to assume Zenimax’s European operation is eager to filthy up its publishing mitts, considering the business was announced only three days ago.

I’ve been told there’s a press release after the jump, but it’d be best if you checked for me.

Red Ant Enterprises Announces a Distribution-Partnership with ZeniMax Europe Ltd

22nd February 2008 – Red Ant Enterprises, a leading interactive software distributor, has signed an exclusive agreement with ZeniMax Europe Ltd. to distribute Bethesda Softworks®’ STAR TREK®: Conquest and Mud Duck® Productions’ AMF® Bowling: Pinbusters!™ for Australia and New Zealand.

“We are extremely excited to be working with a world class developer and publisher of Bethesda’s caliber,” says Julian White, Managing Director of Red Ant Enterprises. “Bethesda are one of the few publishers that consistently develop “AAA” games and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.”

“We are delighted to be working with such an experienced distributor in Australia. Red Ant’s distribution and staff are the perfect fit for these two titles and we look forward to working with them in 2008,” Said Greg Baverstock, Sales & Business Development Director, Bethesda Softworks Europe®.

STAR TREK®: Conquest features a blend of strategy and intense action set in “The Next Generation” era. Conquest will be available for Wii™ and PlayStation®2. Players take control of Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Dominion, and Breen forces and lead them in a campaign to control the Galaxy, one planet at a time. Build and manage your growing empire in turn-based strategy, fully utilizing the Wii Remote as you select and maneuver your starships throughout the large, galactic map.

Strategically, you must effectively manage limited resources to expand your empire. You decide how to best achieve objectives by managing your fleets and admirals, building support structures, researching technology, and engaging your enemies in combat. Once battle is initiated, Conquest switches to a ship level tactical view allowing direct command of your ships as you engage in real-time combat. While maneuvering your starship with the Nunchuk, take direct aim and fire away with the Wii Remote.

Conquest is scheduled for release in the Australian retail market 20th March 2008. Conquest will be available on Wii™ and PlayStation®2 and has been classified “G” ‘General’ by the Classification Operations Branch. For more information visit http://startrek.bethsoft.com.

AMF® Bowling: Pinbusters!™ allows you to experience the excitement of the lanes alone or with up to three players. Utilizing the Wii Remote, Pinbusters! caters to any gamer looking for pick up and play action in a festive, party atmosphere. With easy to learn controls, unique mini-games, and a wide-array of colorful characters, Pinbusters! offers unique gameplay for any bowling fan.

Pinbusters! is scheduled for release in the Australian retail market 27th March 2008. Pinbusters! will be available on Wii™ and has been classified “G” ‘General’ by the Classification Operations Branch. For more information visit http://mudduckgames.com.

“We are happy to be part of the ZeniMax family,” said Sean “Building upon their great reputation and extending their direct reach throughout Europe and the UK is an exciting, new phase in the expansion of the company.”

The first games to be published by the new office are the eagerly anticipated Fallout 3 and Rogue Warrior, which we haven’t heard any new on in quite some time. Nice to know it still exists.

ZeniMax Media Opens London Office

Bethesda Softworks Establishes European Publishing Arm

16th February 2008 (London, England) – ZeniMax Media Inc., the parent company of Bethesda Softworks®, today announced it has begun direct publishing operations in Europe with the establishment of its London-based subsidiary, ZeniMax Europe Ltd. ZeniMax Europe will be publishing titles throughout UK/EMEA territories under the Bethesda Softworks brand.

Bethesda Softworks has a successful history as a developer and publisher of award-winning titles, most recently with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, which won critical acclaim and countless Game of the Year awards. While continuing to work with strategic European distribution partners, ZeniMax Europe plans to deliver a range of compelling titles to the European market in the coming years, including the highly anticipated Fallout® 3 in Fall 2008.

“This is an important step for us as we look to expand our presence in markets outside of North America,” said Robert Altman, CEO of ZeniMax Media Inc. “We want to establish direct relationships with retailers and distributors throughout Europe and the UK as we bring exciting titles like Fallout® 3 and Rogue Warrior™ to gamers worldwide.”

The European operations of the Company will be headed by Sean Brennan, an industry veteran with over 20 years experience in the European markets. “We are happy to be part of the ZeniMax family,” said Sean “Building upon their great reputation and extending their direct reach throughout Europe and the UK is an exciting, new phase in the expansion of the company.”

Working alongside Brennan are Greg Baverstock, Director of Sales and Business Development, and Christina Camerota, Director of Marketing and Public Relations. With a wealth of industry experience, the team has recently settled into the Company’s new European offices which are located in the heart of London’s West end.

Don’t bother directing your browser to the site – it’s not up yet.

Now, this really shouldn’t come as a big surprise – ZeniMax Online’s been gearing up for a while now. Being an open world RPG series, Elder Scrolls is a ripe IP for the massively multiplayer gaming market.

I still think ZeniMax Online was also set up to take over work on the Fallout MMO, in case Interplay isn’t up to it. That we’ll know more about next year.

Elder Scrolls Online? [Voodoo Extreme]

GameDaily has a story up covering a few recent personnel changes at various companies, including Turbine’s mysterious CEO swap and, interestingly, some action at ZeniMax Online. According to the story, 14-year industry veteran Lucien Parsons will take up the role of Production Director at the company. If you cruise over to ZO’s website, you’ll notice they’re looking to fill a few more positions. Quite a few, actually.

Do you reckon they’re making Elder Scrolls Online? Doesn’t sound too far-fetched to me. Mind you, it looks like ZeniMax Online is a separate business to Bethesda, so who knows? Alternatively, ZeniMax might be preparing themselves to take over the Fallout MMO, if Interplay bungles the job.

Turbine Gets a New CEO, and New Moves at SCEA, ZeniMax Online & More [GameDaily]

“We are excited about the opportunities we have in the online gaming space and felt that Matt is the perfect person to lead this effort,” said James Leder, COO of ZeniMax Media. There are relatively few people who have the actual experience and knowledge that comes from having created a successful MMO, and Matt is the real deal. We feel fortunate to have him join our group.”

Great! Now all they need to do is hand him a copy of Oblivion, tell him, “Just make this, only bigger” and they’ll be golden.

ZeniMax Media Announces Establishment of Online Gaming Division – ZeniMax Online Studios
Subsidiary to be headed by noted MMO veteran

August 1, 2007 (Rockville, MD) – ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of Bethesda Softworks, announced today the creation of ZeniMax Online Studios. The division will be headed by Matt Firor, a well-known expert in the field of online gaming, and will focus on the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) market segment.

Firor was one of the founders of Mythic Entertainment, where he worked for over 10 years on MMO titles. At Mythic he was the producer of the worldwide #1 smash hit Dark Age of Camelot, a MMORPG considered one of the most influential online games of all time. When he left Mythic in 2006, Firor was responsible for all development projects at the company. For the past year, he has been a consultant in the online gaming industry, advising leading publishers interested in entering the online market.

“This could not be a more perfect opportunity for me,” said Matt. “I am extremely impressed with ZeniMax and Bethesda Softworks management – their development philosophy closely matches my own, with an emphasis on quality, innovation, and craftsmanship. I am eager to get back to what I love – the development of cutting edge MMOG titles.”

“We are excited about the opportunities we have in the online gaming space and felt that Matt is the perfect person to lead this effort,” said James Leder, COO of ZeniMax Media. There are relatively few people who have the actual experience and knowledge that comes from having created a successful MMO, and Matt is the real deal. We feel fortunate to have him join our group.”

Firor is a graduate of George Washington University and has worked in the gaming industry for 17 years. He has lectured at the University of Virginia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology on game development topics, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Firor has written articles for Game Developer Magazine and was a regular columnist covering online game development for the Korean gaming magazine “Onplayer”.

For more information on ZeniMax Online Studios, visit www.zenimaxonline.com.