zenimax-media posts

It's not a secret that Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, has been working on some kind of MMO project since late 2006 when it first announced their plans to open Zenimax Online Studios. Details about the MMO have been kept close to their vest ever since. Now it appears that Zenimax wants to keep a few details of their MMO project out of their current court fight with Interplay concerning the Fallout IP rights.

Fallout fan site Duck and Cover claims through unnamed sources that Zenimax has indeed tried to keep info about the MMO game out of the court documents "so their competitors can't find out about it." However it sounds like the info they want to keep quiet is pretty basic stuff. They claims the info shows that Zenimax has been working on the game since 2007 (duh), and that the company has spent "tens and tens of millions of dollars" on development (standard for a AAA MMO title). The info also says it is employing "close to a hundred people" to work on the game (again, standard for a AAA MMO title). Some have said the game is an Elder Scrolls-based MMO which again has been speculated on before.

So in other words we are no closer to finding out details on the game that we were before. Nothing to see here..move along.

Electronic Arts seemed to be very happy to have id Software in its line-up of third party game developed a year and a half ago when it first announced its publishing deal for Rage. Now that the first person shooter is in the hands of id's new owner ZeniMax Media, EA doesn't seem very upset about the situation.

IGN posted up a statement from an EA rep who stated, "In keeping with EA's initiative to focus on fewer hits, we have ended our publishing agreement with ZeniMax. We wish the very best outcome for the id team on what we believe will be an extraordinary game." While EA is indeed going through a restructuring where it is laying off 1,500 team members, it's also likely that EA didn't want to share any of Rage's revenue with ZeniMax, which is slowly becoming a major publisher in itself.

One of Electronic Arts' biggest third party publishing deals is now no more. ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks and the owner of id Software, has just announced that they will take over as the publisher of id's next game, the first person shooter Rage.

Rage was first announced in 2007 during QuakeCon and at E3 in 2008 Electronic Arts announced it would handle the publishing duties for the game. However ZeniMax went ahead and bought id Software in June of 2009. At the time both ZeniMax and EA stated that the publishing deal for Rage would go unchanged. Neither EA nor ZeniMax has announced the financial specifics of this new publishing transfer, with ZeniMax saying only that, "The ongoing development of Rage is unaffected by this development."

[Via email press release]

Although there is no official statement from either party yet, a post on the Fallout Wikia page claims that Bethesda Softworks has been denied a preliminary injunction in their current court fight against Interplay over the Fallout game license.

As we have reported previously, Bethesda Softworks and its parent company ZeniMax Media have sued Interplay, claiming that Interplay did not have the rights to re-release the previous games in the Fallout series (ZeniMax bought the Fallout IP from Interplay several years ago and of course released Fallout 3 last year). If this new report is correct, Interplay can continue to sell the older games in the series and work on "Project V13" (the name that is being used for Interplay's likely Fallout MMO project) until the lawsuit is settled in court.

[Via No Mutants Allowed]

There's nothing like starting a new work week with a good old-fashioned "we aren't going to identify our sources" rumor. In this case, the "rumor" is buried in a Gamesindustry.biz newsletter that's reprinted at Eurogamer. The editorial talks about digital game distribution and how it may (or may not) take over from the brick-and-mortar game distribution business.

It's all stuff that has been hashed out before, but then the writer states near the end of the editorial, "However, it's also worth watching closely what happens to Steam in the coming months. Unconfirmed industry scuttlebutt suggests that Zenimax - the parent company of Bethesda, which made headlines back in June when it acquired legendary PC studio id Software - is still on the acquisition trail, and has been making eyes at Half-Life creators Valve across the bar. "

Um.....ok.

This is what's known in journalism as "burying the lead." Of course the writer doesn't go into any more details (where he heard this news and when) but news about any move by any company to buy out Valve, arguably one of the most influential game developers in the industry, should be front and center instead of near the end. Naturally we have emailed both Valve and Zenimax to get their official statements on this matter. Zenimax's PR head quickly emailed us back saying they did not wish to comment.

[Via Blue's News]

Things have apparently come to a head between Interplay and Bethesda Softworks over the Fallout game license. Bethesda's parent company Zenimax Media bought the full Fallout rights several years ago but allowed Interplay to proceed, with certain conditions, with their plans for a Fallout-based MMO. Last April Interplay warned that Bethesda was planning to " . . . to terminate the trademark license agreement . . . for the development of FALLOUT MMOG" because those conditions were not met.

Now Gamasutra reports that Bethesda Softworks has filed a lawsuit against Interplay this week, alledging that Interplay violated Bethesda's Fallout IP rights when Interplay released Fallout Trilogy, a collection of the first two Interplay made Fallout RPGs along with their spin-off title Fallout Tactics. Bethesda claims that while Interplay has the rights to sell those games, it must send over all promotional and packaging artwork to Bethesda for pre-apporval. Bethesda says Interplay did not fullfill this requirement and also made agreements to sell the games via digital download sites without Bethesda's approval.

Bethesda claims Interplay's actions have caused Bethesda "immediate, substantial, and irreparable harm" since they claim consumers would confuse Fallout Trilogy with Bethesda's own Fallout 3. Bethesda is seeking the termination of their previous MMO agreement with Interplay and that Interplay pay for damages and fees. They are also seeking an injunction against the sale of Fallout Trilogy and all of Interplay's back catalog of Fallout games.

It's looking like the Prey first person shooter franchise is making yet another transition. After starting as a 3D Realms internal project that got canceledin the 1990s and then revived with developer Human Head (with 3D Realms supervising) in 2006 it now looks like Bethesda Softworks' parent company ZeniMax Media has claimed the rights to the franchise.

Newly discovered trademark documents via trademark super-site superannuation show that the Prey franchise was purchased by ZeniMax from The Radar Group earlier this year. The Radar Group was created by 3D Realms' CEO Scott Miller as a separate company and had Prey 2 as one of their listed games in development. We've contacted both Miller and Zenimax's PR head Pete Hines to get comments on this new development.

Update: Hines responded back to our inquires, saying simply, "We don't have any comment."

id Software has been mostly silent about their plans for their next in-house game Rage since QuakeCon nearly a year ago. That's apparently changing with this month's cover story for the Game Informer print magazine. The August 2009 date issue will apparently have lots of new info on the action game.

While the images and footage of Rage we have seen before have taken place in a desert-style setting the cover for the Game Informer issue looks like at least some of the game will also take place in a bombed out ctiyscape. You can bet id will be showing off even more of Rage at next month's QuakeCon.

In case you have been on a island for the past couple of months, there's been some changes in some well known first person shooter game developers. id Software has been bought out and 3D Realms is now basically just Scott Miller and George Broussard. So how does Cliff Bleszinski, the lead designer at Epic Games,feel about these changes?

In a chat with the Develop site, He states, "To see the old standbys go through these kinds of changes . . . it's really shocking. We all came from the same mould from the shareware days; these studios have been around forever, and to see them acquired like that is a surprise." He adds that id's acquisition by ZeniMax Media " . . . will probably be a good thing for id." And what are the chances that Epic could be bought out one day? "CliffyB" says, "We're doing fine as is right now . . . .I've got like five projects going on right now, all a guarantee that we'll keep the lights on for years to come."

Even with id Software's purchase by ZeniMax Media last week, plans for QuakeCon 2009 are continuing. However the annual free LAN event-game convention is getting a last minute venue change. Instead of the previously announced Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, the venue has changed over to the Gaylord Hotel in nearby Grapevine, Texas. The Gaylord Hotel previously hosted the 2004 and 2005 QuakeCons.

According to today's press announcement, this change will allow QuakeCon 2009 to have a bigger BYOC area, a biggest exhibitor area and "totally new events and entertainment." Folks who had made QuakeCon resevations at the previous hotel will find that those reservations have been canceled. id plans to announce when reservations will be made available for the Gaylord Hotel soon, at equal or lesser rates. The dates for QuakeCon 2009 have not changed; it will still be held August 13-16.