It has been announced that Doom developers Id Software have been bought by Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax.
In the case that you have been living in a cave, you should know that Id Software was one of the most influential videogame development companies in the history of videogames. They were the first company to bring us the original first person shooter titles, starting with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, and look where that went.
They are also very well known for their incredibly popular series, Quake, and are now busy with a next-generation Racing-FPS called Rage. So, how is the publishing going to work from here, considering that they have Rage and Wolfenstein already in the works?
Even though they have been sold to ZeniMax, Rage will still be published by EA, and the new Wolfenstein will be published by Activision, with any sequels then being published by ZeniMax in future.
It seems that the reason for the sale comes from Id Software’s need to find a publisher that has similar philosophies, also stating that with rising budgets, many larger publishers aren’t too keen on the idea of pumping money into IP’s (Intellectual Properties) that they did not own themselves.
Kotaku have even more information about why Id was sold, so check it out by hitting the link below.
Source: Kotaku
Last Updated: June 25, 2009
LazySAGamer
June 25, 2009 at 08:49
Quake was the single biggest reason why I became so infatuated with gaming… I really hope this doesn’t spell the end of the Id as I knew it
WitWolfyZA
June 25, 2009 at 09:06
Seeing that Bethesda and MS have such a good relationship… I wonder if this wasnt planned for some evil plot.
ChuckD
June 25, 2009 at 21:29
Could this be Bethesdas move to getting a decent engine for their games. It could be a match made in heaven. iD has always been really clever with engine tech, but have sucked when it comes to story lines(not to say the games aren’t good, I have all the Doom games and love them all), but iD’s strength is tech. On the other hand we have Bethesda, who have a real talent for worlds, and stories. I know they may not have a good grasp of story telling like Bioware or Rockstar, but if they don’t have to worry about the tech(you have to admit their engine is always buggy) maybe they can give us even better stories and worlds. Just imagine Fallout 4 or Elder Scrolls 5 with iD tech 5 or 6, pretty and non-buggy. 🙂