id Software Acquired by Bethesda Owner ZeniMax

"id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack," vowed ZeniMax. "No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles...at the studio."

Founded as an independent game developer in 1991, id Software is currently working on the post-apocalyptic shooter RAGE (PC, PS3, 360) and the long-awaited Doom 4.

"Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best--make AAA games," said ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman. "Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand."

Going forward, Bethesda will handle publishing duties for all future id Software games, "other than upcoming releases previously committed to other publishers." Last year, id signed a publishing deal with EA Partners over RAGE.

"This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles," explained id CEO Todd Hollenshead. "We will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id...a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games."

Along with The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 3 maker Bethesda, other studios under the ZeniMax umbrella include casual developer Vir2L and ZeniMax Online, which is working on an MMO strongly rumored to be set in The Elder Scrolls universe.

"As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am," noted id technical director and founder John Carmack. "This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward. We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them."

"We're really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured," Carmack added in a Kotaku interview. "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."