The recent purchase of id Software by ZeniMax Media doesn’t mean they’ll be working on Bethesda franchises or creating new properties for them either.
Peter Hines of Bethesda says they’re helping id build their three teams, as they wanted to pursue ”development of their IP in-house.” The veteran studio has ”more IP than” teams on staff.
”id has plenty of their own IP to keep themselves busy,” said Hines, Bethesda’s global marketing VP, speaking with GamesIndustry.biz.
”It was their desire to build to three teams and bring the development of their IP in-house. So we’ll help them build up to the three full teams a little faster, now that they have additional resources, and they’ll work on Rage and Doom 4 and whatever else it is they’d like to do.”
”But with Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein, and Rage, they already have more IP than they have teams to work on them. So right now creating new IP or having them work on our Bethesda IP isn’t even being considered.” Bethesda are super chuffed they have such specialists working with them now, but won’t skimp on future partnerships with third-party studios.
”It gives us an internal studio with that kind expertise. And not just any studio, but id. These are the guys that invented first-person shooters, and are continuing to push the boundaries with their tech and ideas. You want people like that working with you and a part of your internal development capacity.”
”It doesn’t mean we won’t continue to look at third party folks to work with, like the relationship we have with Splash Damage, but it gives us internal expertise that will be invaluable,” he continued.
”We do have a strong portfolio with games like Oblivion and Fallout, and the folks at Bethesda Game Studios will continue to work on those, but these games aren’t the same kinds of games that id makes. So there’s room for them all.” Feel better knowing id Software isn’t Bethesda’s IP lapdog? id barely has time to thank their new sugar daddy… so many games, so little fan patience.
