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DOOM
Jun 24, 2009 id Software, independent no longer
id Software, the original garage band of game developers, now has a
place to park its properties.
ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, announced today
that it will acquire the Mesquite, Tex.-based id. That means classic
game franchises such as Doom and Quake will now sit alongside --Fallout
3 and The Elder Scrolls in ZeniMax's portfolio.
As part of the deal, Bethesda Softworks will publish upcoming id
releases. The in-development game Rage, will be published by Electronic
Arts, but "they don't have any rights to sequels," Carmack said.
"ZeniMax has working relationships with EA so we hope that goes smoothly
but any future titles will certainly be for ZeniMax."
As part of the deal, Carmack, id CEO Todd Hollenshead and other
principals signed long-term employment contracts.
Says Carmack, "the work that I do in computer
programming is the work that I want to be doing for the foreseeable
future. For me the less I have to deal with board meetings and
contracts, the better. I just want to program."
Id Software, creator of the Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Quake games, has
been sold to ZeniMax Media for an undisclosed amount. ZeniMax's Bethesda
Softworks studio created the popular Elder Scrolls series of
role-playing games.
In a statement released Wednesday, ZeniMax said the development process
at Id Software would remain untouched.
'Doom 4' Planned For Consoles and PCs, Wolfenstein Takes A Backseat
QuakeCon brought news that id Software's "Rage" would see a release for
iPhone ahead of its PC and console launches, but two of id's best known
properties stuck around in the shadows for the show. Wolfenstein will
likely spend some time in the workshop before a new sequel emerges, but
"Doom 4" is actively in development, and it should show up at retail in
the same places that "Rage" does. Asked if simultaneous releases for PC,
PS3 and Xbox 360 would be part of the plan for the game, id CEO Todd
Hollenshead acknowledged that that's what he would like to see.
"That's absolutely what we're thinking," he told Kotaku. "That would
certainly be the hope."
As for Wolfenstein, id seems to be rethinking any follow-ups to their
last installment bearing the IP's name in 2009.
"It would be sad if there's not another Wolfenstein game because I'm a
personal fan of the franchise," Hollenshead said. "'Wolfenstein 3D' is
the game that got me started in PC gaming. So personally I have a lot of
emotional and sentimental attachment to that game. Even before I was
working at id I was playing Wolf 3D, but we're still in the 'thinking
about it' phase at this point."
id Software: PC Gaming "Not Dead, But Different"
Id Software believes that the reason everybody thinks PC gaming is dying
is simply because it's changing.
PC gaming isn't dead, and isn't going to die, so why does the topic keep
coming up? Id Software's Todd Hollenshead and Tim Willits offer their
views on the subject, saying that the PC market is definitely different
than it used to be, but that's not because it's going under.
Hollenshead, id studio president, aligns any slowdown in PC sales to
that of the release of new consoles. He told IGN: "Because of the great
games you have coming out on the consoles, and for a period of time, the
consoles were pretty competitive technically with the PC, [PC] has
receded in prominence. Hollenshead believes: "These things happen over
time and every time consoles come out, people proclaim the death of PC
and then it may struggle for awhile and have its issues, but it tends to
be resilient."
"It's probably getting back to the point right now where technically on
the PCs you're going to be able to start doing more and more things that
you can't do on the consoles," he said. And without new consoles
anywhere on the horizon, this may give the PC a chance to get further
ahead technically. Hollenshead admits that retail isn't the same way it
used to be for PC games, saying it's in "third place" behind the Xbox
360 and PlayStation 3, but doesn't think that means "it's doomed to
continue to recede or can't come back."
Id Creative Director Tim Willits thinks the PC market is "definitely
changing," and that the "biggest struggle ... is that piracy is out of
control." Willits sees PC gaming going towards "client architectures and
cloud gaming" and "games that are more social" as the industry moves to
combat piracy. "Look at Facebook," he says. "There are more people
playing that silly Farmville than play Call of Duty." Hollenshead seems
to agree with Willits' final statement: "PC gaming is not dead, but it
is a bit different than it was in the past."
Compare PC gaming to the other industries. Just because Blockbuster
isn't there anymore doesn't mean nobody rents or watches movies. Just
because nobody goes to arcades anymore doesn't mean the entire videogame
industry is dying. As id points out, the market has changed, and the PC
side of it is different now. Everybody is either just buying the new
World of Warcraft expansion every two years (or StarCraft every ten),
playing Farmville, or buying games on Steam. Not really, but pretty
much, right?
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