ZeniMax Media
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Rumorang: Elder Scrolls MMO three years into development
According to VG247's "very reliable" source, Bethesda Softworks is already three years deep into development on an Elder Scrolls MMO. Recent court documents in the ongoing Bethesda/Interplay lawsuit have allegedly revealed that Bethesda has "close to 100 people working on a secret World of Warcraft-type MMO" -- a tasty piece of info that it's said to be currently fighting to have redacted from a 218-page court transcript. Furthermore, the unannounced MMO is said to be "very close" to being unveiled. We could even be seeing a release of the purported title later this year, as the transcript is said to also reveal a four-year development cycle (starting in late 2006 would put that either later this year or early 2011). Bethesda has commented in the past that it is currently not working on an MMO, though ZeniMax Online (another studio under Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Media) is working on a currently unannounced title. We contacted Bethesda for comment and were told, "We aren't talking about what that studio is working on and don't comment on rumors and speculation." Source 1 - VG247 Source 2 - Duck and Cover Forums
Court documents say Bethesda's MMO already under dev, rumor says it's Elder Scrolls
In this most recent round of court scuffles between Interplay and Bethesda over the Fallout MMO rights, it would seem that some details are coming to light about what's going on at Bethesda's MMO "branch", Zenimax Media. According to filings, the word is that there are close to 100 people working on an MMO that costs "tens and tens of millions of dollars" and has been under development since late 2006. Apparently these same filings claim that the title is a "World of Warcraft" type MMO. Of course, considering World of Warcraft is about as equal to McDonalds in terms of brand recognition with its millions and millions served, saying something is like World of Warcraft could mean anything from 'it's a DIKU-based, kill-ten-rats, FedEx, fantasy MMO that looks rather a lot like WoW' on up to 'it's somewhere in the general MMO neighborhood.' Now, to follow this interesting tidbit up, the word is that Bethesda is moving to have this particular chunk of testimony censored to protect trade secrets. To stir the pot a bit further on why they might be scrambling to block it, VG247 have a source they claim is reliable confirming this is the often-rumored Elder Scrolls MMO. What's more, their source says the Elder Scrolls MMO should have been announced last year.
Rage will be published by Bethesda, EA out of the picture
In a tersely worded press release, ZeniMax Media – parent company of Fallout 3-dev Bethesda Softworks and, as of June, FPS hall-of-famer id Software – has "announced today that it has picked up the publishing rights for Rage, the video game under development at id Software." First announced in July 2008 during Electronic Arts' E3 press conference, Rage was to be published under EA's successful EA Partners program, home to other major titles from outside developers, like Rock Band, Left 4 Dead 2, and Brutal Legend. Unlike ZeniMax's other development studio, Bethesda, id Software will not be self-publishing Rage; instead, "Rage will be published by Bethesda Softworks," the press release states. It concludes, "As a result, Electronic Arts Inc. ... will not be involved in the sales and marketing of Rage. The ongoing development of Rage is unaffected by this development." With EA out of the picture and publishing duties for Rage in ZeniMax's hands, the partnership between the two companies can finally be consummated without having to wait for Doom 4, or whatever's next in the Wolfenstein franchise. Ah, love. %Gallery-28861%
Fallout 3 premium theme available now, free to loyal DLC buyers
Fellow wanderers of the Capital Wasteland, behold what Atom has bestowed upon us: the Fallout 3 premium theme. The glorified post-nuclear wallpaper sells at a standard bottle cap conversion rate of 240 ($3 in pre-war money); however, those who purchased all five of Fallout 3's expansion packs can download the theme for free on October 1.Those obtaining the theme for free will "receive a token from Microsoft" according to Bethesda. We're still a little fuzzy on the specifics, but that's probably because we've been sniffing punga spores. We're still working on getting more details about how the free version will work, but those who want to buy the theme can drop those caps now.Update: Microsoft will be emailing the codes, so make sure the email attached to your Live account is functioning.
Bethesda clarifies MMO claims, Elder Scrolls V statements
Rather than let the statements made at QuakeCon 2009 by Elder Scrolls executive producer Todd Howard rest as they are, Bethesda's Pete Hines has clarified a few things on the company's blog. First and foremost, he wants to make sure that people know that another Elder Scrolls game will eventually be released. "Both Todd and I have said repeatedly that, of course, we're going to do another Elder Scrolls game," Hines outright states. Rather than comment directly on what Bethesda is currently working on, he instead notes that, "We aren't going to confirm or deny or comment on speculation, nor are we going to give hints about anything ... if you know us by now, you know we don't really do that." Hines additionally points out that Bethesda Softworks (the game studio) isn't working on an MMO at the moment, per the speculation surrounding a possible Elder Scrolls MMO. ZeniMax Online Studios, however, is working on an MMO, though "they have not said anything about what game they are making." It looks as though an upcoming Elder Scrolls MMO may be more likely than seeing numero cinco anytime soon, folks. What happened to that "possible 2010 release," eh, Bethesda?
2nd Fallout 3 DLC pack at retail Aug. 25; GOTY edition listed for Oct. 13
Following May's Anchorage and The Pitt combo-pack, Bethesda has confirmed with Joystiq that the second Fallout 3 DLC retail pack featuring Broken Steel and Point Lookout will hit store shelves on August 25 for $20 on both Xbox 360 and PC. You'll need Mothership Zeta – the fifth and "final" piece of Fallout 3 DLC – to round out your DLC collection. It's currently available for $10. If you're late to the Fallout 3 bus, you may want to consider holding off until October when you can pick up the previously announced Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition which bundles the game with all five DLC packs. It's currently listed for $59.99 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 releases, and $49.99 for PC with an October 13th release date on both Amazon and GameStop. Unfortunately, Bethesda's not ready to talk about it until that last DLC pack is out the door so consider those prices and that date boring 'ol retailer placeholders.
QuakeCon 2009 detailed, first public demos of Rage and Brink
Nothing more clearly shows the new relationship forged by Zenimax Media between id Software and Bethesda Softworks than this year's QuakeCon lineup. Littered with little extras like an hour-long presentation by Bethesda's Todd Howard and the first public demonstration of Splash Damage's Brink, QuakeCon 2009 is clearly accommodating some new faces.That being said, id Software's John Carmack will be giving this year's keynote speech, and the event is still very much PC-centric, with Alienware, NVIDA and Ventrilo hosting a handful of events. Upcoming post-apocalyptic, not-Mad Max FPS Rage will also be getting its first public demo at the show, further asserting id Software into the event. For those of you attending, we encourage hounding Todd Howard for information on the next Elder Scrolls game during his Q&A -- if not for us, do it for the kids.
Wet trailer gives us a shot at love
What's better than controlling a femme fatale equipped with handguns and a katana? How about a song making light of her murderous nature? Wet developer A2M have delivered just that in the video you see above, with various impaled victims bursting into song over the course of the blood-splattered video. Here's hoping that the game will be as exciting and hilarious as the viral ad above paints it to be when it hits store shelves on September 15.
Mothership Zeta is 'final' Fallout 3 DLC [update]
It appears that Fallout 3's Mothership Zeta is the last DLC adventure for the (anti-)hero from Vault 101. MTV Multiplayer took note of the wording on Bethesda's website for the game, which states that the latest piece of content is the post-nuclear saga's "final DLC."We're currently following up with Bethesda to see if they have called it quits on the Wasteland, which means that the next time we'll be hearing from the world of Fallout will be during our trip to New Vegas next year. Come on, Bethesda. There's still some uranium to squeeze from the glowing stone.Update: Bethesda says "never say 'never,' but this is the last DLC we have planned."
Fallout 3 trailer enters Mothership Zeta
Whether you pronounce it Mothership Zeta or Mothership Zed-eta, the fact remains that the aliens are coming to cause some trouble in Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland very soon. Beyond a trailer of what to expect when Mars (Jupiter, Uranus?) attacks, there is also a developer's diary on the little details of the DLC's creation.Mothership Zeta will be ready to abduct our wanderer and our wallets on August 3 for 800 ($10) on PC and Xbox. The PlayStation 3 version will be available at a later date, and we'll let you know when the little grayish-green men inform us of that abduction date.
ZeniMax received at least $105 million in financing for id Software
SEC documents reveal that ZeniMax obtained $105 million in debt financing for its acquisition of id Software. PaidContent dug up the documents, but is currently working on what entity actually slid the cash ZeniMax's way.We're not that well versed in our mergers and acquisitions jargon, so we asked Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter for a bit of an explanation. Just what is "debt financing"? He explained, "It means that [ZeniMax] borrowed $105 million at the time that they bought id. The article doesn't say if the debt is secured by id's intellectual property, or what the repayment terms are, but the bottom line is that they bought id with borrowed money. It is not clear what they paid, but safe to assume that they paid at least $105 million, probably more."ZeniMax isn't hurting for cash, so it's not like the company went begging for a loan. The parent company of Bethesda Softworks already made at least $300 million in sales off of Fallout 3. It'll take some time to find out if ZeniMax's minimum purchase price of $105 million was worth it for id's tech and intellectual property.[Via Gamasutra. Thank you, Michael]
'Brink' trademarked by Bethesda parent company
ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks (Fallout 3, Oblivion), has applied to trademark "Brink" for computer game software, reports Gamespot. Beyond that, we're in total speculation territory. Brink could be the secret Wii game, the E3 reveal from Splash Damage or that MMO the company is working on. Bethesda's got a buffet full of projects right now. We've contacted the company for comment.
More hints of a Fallout MMO?
We've alternately consulted both our Magic 8 Ball and a Ouija board for answers to the Fallout MMO question. As in, will there be one? We think we've got a handle on the licensing intricacies of Fallout between ZeniMax Media (parent company of Bethesda Softworks) and Interplay thanks to a stellar article written by Daedren for r1ft Gaming. Briefly stated, Bethesda owns the rights to the Fallout IP, but not a Fallout MMO. Interplay holds the Fallout MMO rights, but only if they could raise $30 million and begin development by April 2009. Interplay has mentioned an MMO project with a tongue-in-cheek codename Project V13 (a nod to Fallout) but we've heard little of this game beyond that 2008 announcement that a dev team was being formed. In addition, we reported just last week that ZeniMax Media is hiring for an MMO division, project(s) unknown. While it hints at the potential to bring Fallout into the MMO space, we're still chalking it up to rumor. That rumor got a bit juicier today though when we came across something of interest at our sister site Big Download. The original Fallout designer Jason Anderson, formerly the creative director for Project V13, has parted company with Interplay to work for inXile on a new RPG. We're still not certain if the various bits of news we've found in the last few weeks indicates a potential ZeniMax/Bethesda Fallout MMO or if Interplay's Project V13 will chug along just fine without Jason Anderson, so we're still firmly in the realm of "rumor," albeit an interesting one to fans of all things post-apocalytic.
ZeniMax Media hiring for MMO division
ZeniMax Media Inc., is currently seeking out MMO development talent for its online game division, GamesIndustry.biz reports. Why is this significant? ZeniMax is the owner of Bethesda Softworks, and thus both Fallout and Elder Scrolls. A Fallout MMO is entirely possible, but the business side of producing this title is somewhat complex. Daedren over at r1ft Gaming dissected the issue as it stood in November:Bethesda Softworks owns the rights to the the Fallout IP, while Interplay retains rights to a Fallout MMO. However, those rights are forfeit provided Interplay is unable to raise $30 million and begin development of the Fallout MMO by April of 2009. (This is presumably Interplay's "Project V13" which involves other original Fallout team members.)
Zenimax Online kickstarting development with new digs
We haven't heard terribly much from Zenimax Online over the past few months. The company, the online off-shoot of Zenimax Media and corporate cousin of highly-lauded development house Bethesda Softworks, has been tight-lipped since they told the media to get off their lawn back in November. Of course, that didn't stop us from including the purely speculative Elder Scrolls MMO as #5 in our Top 10 MIA MMOs of 2007.But times, they are a-changing. Word has it that Zenimax Online will be moving to a new 40,000 square foot facility in Huntsville, MD in anticipation of scaling up the development process on their as-yet-unnamed MMO project. Naturally, they're also going to need some new blood to make use of all that office space, so they've posted a bunch of positions for hire. East coast development houses are pretty rare these days, so if you're in the area you might want to get on that ASAP.
An Elder Scrolls MMO in the works?
The domain name elderscrollsonline.com was registered on 15 August this year by ZeniMax Media Inc, parent company of Bethesda Softworks - the lovely people who make all those wonderful Elder Scrolls games. Adding fuel to the speculation, ZeniMax Media obtained 15 million US dollars in funding from Providence Equity Partners Inc in late October, which will be used "to fund future growth, increase game development and publishing, facilitate acquisitions, and finance massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs)." [our emphasis] Bethesda, the Elder Scrolls, and MMO development. These things potentially add up to Massively Tasty Online Games.
