id software bought out, Mythic & bioware merge

[Grumbledook]

ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, announced today that it will acquire the Mesquite, Tex.-based id.

and as title Mythic and Bioware merge

[JessiBean]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24183

[Keytoast]

Ew... That's bad. I hope to god the next two Mass Effects will be worked on by the original Bioware people....

[FlameDancer]

wow....i honestly did not see that one coming, though zenimax landed five hundred or so mil so they had to spend it on something I think. Great move for them. Huge.

[GriNGo]

that's a shocker. Hope Bioware keeps on making kick ass games... I though ID Software was almost as big as Blizzard..

[waronmars]

Baldur's gate in Gamebryo! NWN in Gamebryo! Gamebryo MMO's! Doom RPG in Gamebryo!

-_-

[Fallout]

Good move by ID me thinks. They certainly were lagging behind quite a bit and with this, they've got a lot more freedom. Besides, Bethesda could use some of their engine technology as well.

[JessiBean]

I though ID Software was almost as big as Blizzard..

No, according to their linked in page, about 95 people. Carmack apparently often talked of the perils of too large a game company and was all about keeping it small. And independent. Very curious to see what happens now...

[egerie]

When you look up the financial health of some gaming companies (whether they are 1st party or 3rd), there are a lot of interesting things to take in consideration... even for Activision/Blizzard.

[KarylGilbertson]

I read an article on Kotaku I think it was, saying the id software is going to continue operating pretty much like nothing happened, and just have access to larger publishing support through ZeniMax. Same article said that EA was basically "handing over" Mythic to BioWare, so BW continues operating as normal and has increased resources and talent in the form of Mythic.

I'll see if I can find the link again.

Edit: Okay I lied it's two articles.

EA/BioWare/Mythic: http://kotaku.com/5302069/ea-combines-mythic-and-bioware-into-a-giant-rpg-robot

ZeniMax/Bethesda/id: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/24/bethesda-parent-company-buys-id-software/#continued

[sparth]

funny, now i'm seeing all this stuff as a spectator.
the only thing i wish is have the guys over there keep the freedom they need in order to make a good game. and see rage shipped too :)

[m@.]

and see rage shipped too :)

yeah man, I wanna see those hundreds of concepts one day :D

[Ninjerk]

Speaking of studio purchases, I want to see SOMETHING from Junction Point now now now now now now. I'm so excited. Originally I wasn't sure when Disney bought them.

EDIT: Clarified to make a bit more sense.

[Burtzum]

Maybe Bethsoft's open world RPGs and Zenimax Online's MMO will rub off on Id and encourage them to leave the corridor-crawl gameplay behind. The old school FPS is dead in my opinion. From what little they've shown of Rage it seems to be a bit more open. I hope so.

[Nerahla]

I just hope that this means Mythic won't get their grubby little hands on the KOTOR MMO and Bioware perhaps will get their golden hands on Warhammer Online and fix it straight!

[Cartogriffi]

Maybe Bethsoft's open world RPGs and Zenimax Online's MMO will rub off on Id and encourage them to leave the corridor-crawl gameplay behind. The old school FPS is dead in my opinion. From what little they've shown of Rage it seems to be a bit more open. I hope so.
After Quake 3 id software was working on a project called Trinity and it was supposed to be far more open world. However it got put on hold so they could work on Doom 3. I believe RAGE is supposed to be more open . . . at least compared to id's previous games.

For the foreseeable future I think any effect on Bethesda or id will be indirect at best. Id's current projects already have publishers, and Bethesda's current project presumably has an engine, so until all of these current projects are released I don't see them crossing paths. And while I'm sure id will use Bethesda Softworks as their future publisher it's quite possible that id's engines won't have the feature-set that Bethesda's needs . . . although Bethesda has always done a lot of their own engine work so this may not be an issue.

It certainly is an interesting situation, but I imagine it will be some time before we see much effect on Zenimax, Bethesda, or id.

[CGMonkey]

After Quake 3 id software was working on a project called Trinity and it was supposed to be far more open world. However it got put on hold so they could work on Doom 3. I believe RAGE is supposed to be more open . . . at least compared to id's previous games.

For the foreseeable future I think any effect on Bethesda or id will be indirect at best. Id's current projects already have publishers, and Bethesda's current project presumably has an engine, so until all of these current projects are released I don't see them crossing paths. And while I'm sure id will use Bethesda Softworks as their future publisher it's quite possible that id's engines won't have the feature-set that Bethesda's needs . . . although Bethesda has always done a lot of their own engine work so this may not be an issue.

It certainly is an interesting situation, but I imagine it will be some time before we see much effect on Zenimax, Bethesda, or id.

Trinity is far older than Quake 3, if I remember correctly Trinity was supposed to be used in Prey before it was canceled.

Anyway -- This is positive in every way :)

[Cartogriffi]

Trinity is far older than Quake 3, if I remember correctly Trinity was supposed to be used in Prey before it was canceled.

Anyway -- This is positive in every way :)

Woops, you're right (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/trinity-id-software/). It was dropped right after Quake 3's release, and started after Quake. :)

Although I don't believe Prey was involved, that was a 3D Realms project (although I believe it used the Doom 3 engine when they finally got back to it)

[Ninjerk]

I just hope that this means Mythic won't get their grubby little hands on the KOTOR MMO and Bioware perhaps will get their golden hands on Warhammer Online and fix it straight!

They probably merged them so Bioware could borrow art and programming assets more easily.