id: RAGE would've been rushed 'if we weren't part of the Zenimax family'

The acquisition of id Software by Zenimax Media brought with it a slew of strong brands, but perhaps the most important is its 2011 game, RAGE. During an interview with GI.biz, id Software creative director Tim Willits brought up how important the game is to the developer internally: "There is a lot riding on it, we need to make sure it's great. Don't f**k it up!"

But it's also pretty important to Zenimax that id be allowed to take its time. "I can tell you that if we weren't part of the Zenimax family, we'd be trying to rush this game out," Willits revealed. "So it's so nice being able to say, 'let's ship it next year, let's get the multiplayer awesome, let's get the game as great as we can make it.' Without their support, I honestly think that RAGE would not be as good as it's going to be."

For Willits and id, the game isn't so much going to be a singular experience -- the developer is looking to create an overall experience where the goal is to make the player "feel that things happened before you got there and that things will happen after you leave." Star Wars is referenced as influence, yet Willits also mentioned possible DLC tie-ins and two different iPhone games as additional means to flesh out the universe.

Another indication of RAGE's importance internally is how many people id has working on it: over 60 people. "Quake 2 we did with 13. Quake 3 with about 23. Doom 3 with about 38, I think, now on Rage we're past 60, and that's just the Rage team. It's still small, but it's big for us."