Today's announcement of id Software's acquisition by ZeniMax Media (owner of Bethesda Softworks) took most people by surprise. Yet it's not the only time that a big independent game developer has been bought out by a publisher. Sometime the new relationship works out for both companies and sometimes it doesn't.Big Download decided to look back at just some of the major acquisitions between PC game developers and publishers and see how they fared. Which ones bore fruit? Which ones failed to live to their potential? And which one resulted in the developer shutting down operations even after a successful run of major PC game hits?
Click on the image above to continue reading about the big PC game developer acquisitions.
City of Heroes Ultra Mode Screenshots_thumbnail.jpg "Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening")
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Primal Carnage Screenshots_thumbnail.jpg "Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943")
Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943
Victoria 2
Dungeon Defense
Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited Screenshots
Boot Disk: Return to Castle Wolfenstein-(10)_thumbnail.jpg "LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 Screenshots")
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 Screenshots
Damn, did THQ really only pay 10 million for relic? What a deal...
I think you forgot some other big names though: EA buying Origin and Bullfrog; MS buying FASA and Lionhead and so on...Posted at 6:16PM on Jun 24th 2009 by Com_Raven