Two giant game companies have merged. ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Fallout and Oblivion developer and publisher Bethesda Softworks, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired id Software.
id is known for the wildly popular Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake games.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said id founder and lead designer John Carmack in a statement. “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.”
Bethesda’s critically acclaimed Fallout and Oblivion games are role-playing games – out of the way of id’s first-person shooters. The two different genres mean that the two companies will not conflict with one another, but rather operate under a unified banner.
ZeniMax has announced that no changes will be made to development at id, and all the principals have signed long-term employment contracts.
Bethesda is currently working on Fallout: New Vegas, another role-playing game in the series, while id is currently working on Doom 4 and Rage, a new first-person shooter/racer.