Index
Bethesda Softworks and Bethesda Game Studio id Software ZeniMax Online Studios Arkane Studios MachineGames Tango Gameworks Roundhouse Studios Alpha Dog Games After a decidedly too warm summer in terms of announcements dedicated to the gaming world, this month of September we it is truly surprising. Starting from the presentation of the new Nvidia video cards, passing through the PS5 Showcase, up to the last bomb of the past few days: the acquisition of ZeniMax Media and Bethesda by Microsoft. Arriving close to the pre-orders of
Xbox Series X and Series S, the Redmond company has strongly attracted attention to its Xbox Game Pass service, the real workhorse for the next generation of consoles. In addition to the license on the various intellectual properties owned by ZeniMax Media and Bethesda, Microsoft has managed to bring 2300 employees under its roof, as well as a lot of experience and development tools in the videogame field. We have already extensively discussed the possible consequences of this important market movement, in fact today we want to review which new studios have entered under the wing of Microsoft, what they have produced in the past and which titles they could churn out in the near future.
Bethesda Softworks and Bethesda Game Studio
Bethesda Softworks is a US company incorporated into ZeniMax Media and recently acquired by Microsoft. Founded in 1986 by Christopher Weaver, it became famous for making great sagas such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout under the name of Bethesda Game Studio. Subsequently with the foundation and acquisition of other development studios, Bethesda Softworks has released other important titles, signed by Arkane Studios, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, ZeniMax Online Studios and id Software. Typically The Elder Scrolls and Fallout need no introduction. Two high-quality sagas that have sold many millions of copies since their debut on PC over twenty years ago. The latest installment of the highly acclaimed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim series is still one of the most beautiful RPGs today, despite having nearly ten years on its back. The title was in fact proposed on numerous platforms from PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 up to
Nintendo Switch and the most recent
Sony and Microsoft consoles. The medieval setting combined with fantasy elements with enormous freedom of action has made Skyrim a real reference point for the genre.
Bethesda Game Studios
is already working on the next chapter of the series - The Elder Scrolls VI, announced now in 2018 but of which we know very little or nothing. The project is currently in development exclusively for the next generation consoles and clearly for the personal computer market, but we have no further details on the possible setting or gameplay mechanics. Moving on to the other great saga born from the minds of Bethesda Game Studios, we certainly couldn't ignore Fallout. We change the setting but not the genre, in fact these role-playing games have transported us to a post-apocalyptic world, hit by a heavy nuclear bombing. The recent Fallout 76, developed by ZeniMax Online Studios and focused on online gaming, has not convinced much critics and audiences. Fallout 4 of 2015 instead was a single player experience more in line with the canons defined by the series. For the future we currently have no information on a possible new Fallout in development, but we are sure that the brand still has enormous potential to be developed, especially thanks to the new generation hardware.
Finally we cannot leave out Starfield , another role-playing game in development at Bethesda Game Studios, announced together with The Elder Scrolls VI in 2018. This first-person single player video game will give us a fantastic sci-fi experience, about which we don't know any further details. According to Todd Howard, the executive producer of Bethesda Game Studios, Starfield is out of pre-production and is currently already playable.
id Software
Founded in 1991 by four member of the software company Softdisk, id Software has been able to leave an indelible mark on the video game industry. In the 1990s they were the first to propose the first person shooter genre, developing three iconic titles such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. In 2009 id Software announced that it had been acquired by ZeniMax Media, which already owned Bethesda Softworks. Under this new company, the development studio has made other FPSs starting with Rage in 2011 until the long-awaited Doom reboot in 2016 and its follow-up Doom Eternal in 2020. Given the success of the new Doom series, the development studio is probably already working on a new chapter coming for the next generation of consoles and PCs. As they are true masters in this genre of video games, we hope they will continue to make titles of this depth.
ZeniMax Online Studios
As you could easily deduce from the name, ZeniMax Online Studios is a US development studio specializing in massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). Bethesda Game Studio shared with them the huge amount of material created for The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, so that ZeniMax Online Studios could create multiplayer video games set in these universes. So in 2014 they released The Elder Scrolls Online, an active and constantly updated video game still today on different platforms. The game is set on the continent of Tamriel and has direct references to the other games in the Elder Scrolls saga. In fact, different contents have been added, taken directly from the Bethesda Game Studio series, such as entire regions of the continent, races, weapons and adventures. Later in 2018 they did similar work for the other series by releasing Fallout 76. The latter failed to convince critics given the numerous problems had at launch. It was later fixed with numerous updates and additional content, but never completely won over the series' true fans. With the arrival of the new generation consoles, ZeniMax Online Studios will also bring its two titles to Playstation 5
and Xbox Series X / S, continuing to expand the two vast worlds populated by real players connected via the network.
Arkane Studios
This time we move from the US to France, where Arkane Studios was born in 1999. In the early 2000s, the development studio released games like Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, released for PC and the first two Xbox consoles. Subsequently in 2010 Arkane Studios became a partner of ZeniMax Media and with Bethesda Softworks as producer made several interesting video games. In 2012, Dishonored was released, a good quality first-person stealth video game, in fact four years later they also made its sequel. Dishonored and Dishonored 2 have gameplay variety as their strength, which offers us different avenues to complete a mission. In 2017, however, they changed course to publish a very interesting Prey, a respectable first-person shooter with deep and well-interlocked dynamics. Gaining good experience they continued their work by collaborating for the realization of two solid Wolfenstein chapters: Youngblood and Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, while for 2021 they are working on Deathloop. The latter is another first person shooter set in a time cycle: a sequence of events that repeat themselves and from which the gamer must try to escape. After the recent acquisition of Microsoft it is practically assumed that the game will also arrive on the Xbox platform, because it was initially planned as an exclusive title for Playstation 5. It would also seem that Arkane Studios is committed to two other projects coming up for the next generation consoles and clearly for the PC market.
MachineGames
We stay in Europe, but this time we move to Sweden where in 2009 the founders of Starbreeze Studios opened the MachineGames development studio. After putting forward ideas to various producers, MachineGames accepted Bethesda Softworks' proposal to take the Wolfenstein series back into hand. So the Swedish team set to work to bring one of the most beloved shooters of all time back to console, clearly using the most modern technologies for the gaming platforms available. The pace of work was quite fast so much so that from 2014 to 2019 they managed to propose almost a chapter every year. In fact, five Wolfenstein chapters came out with the two most recent Youngblood and Cyberpilot (VR title) made in collaboration with Arkane Studios. Probably the development studio is currently working on a new chapter of the series coming to Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X / S already in the next year. However, we currently don't have any information about it yet.
Tango Gameworks
Now let's move to the east where in 2010 Shinji Mikami, the creator of the Resident Evil series, founded Tango Gameworks based in Tokyo . In the same year, the development studio was acquired by ZeniMax Media to begin development on a new intellectual property. The Evil Within and its sequel are third-person survival horror games, certainly a very well known and appreciated genre by Mikami. In the video game, the protagonist is catapulted into a distorted world, full of nightmare settings and horrid creatures including really scary bosses. In addition to the classic survival horror mechanics, the developers have added a good dose of stealth to more easily pass the levels, circumvent traps and find the numerous hidden objects. Following the success of the two The Evil Within, Tango Gameworks has set to work on a new title for Playstation 5 and PC called Ghostwire: Tokyo. The game will arrive on the market in 2021 and thanks to the recent acquisition of Microsoft, it will enter directly into the Game Pass collection. Ghostwire: Tokyo is a first-person action adventure title, where the protagonist must use various psychic and supernatural powers to chase the spirits away from the city of Tokyo.
Roundhouse Studios
About a year ago Bethesda Softworks opened a new development studio, Roundhouse Studios, run by the Human Head Studios team that closed shortly before. These developers have gotten to work on major projects like the aforementioned Prey and are currently in charge of creating new works under Bethesda Softworks. The developers of Roundhouse Studios have been working together for more than two decades on different games and genres such as RPGs, shooters, adventure and action games. Many of them have also collaborated on the famous Batman: Arkham Origins and BioShock Infinite, two big-caliber titles of the last generation. Bethesda appears to be thrilled to own such a team and we will likely see her announce some new ambitious projects developed by Roundhouse Studios. Currently, however, also thanks to the acquisition by Microsoft, we still have no information about it, but we expect announcements in the short term to promote the Xbox ecosystem.
Alpha Dog Games
Prior to the formation of Redhouse Studios, Bethesda Softworks acquired another development studio to develop video games dedicated to the mobile market. With major titles like The Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield in development, Bethesda needed a new team to roll out their software to other platforms as well. The ever-growing mobile market immediately piqued the attention of the US giant, which saw in Alpha Dog Games a good opportunity to enrich the catalog of mobile titles already composed of Fallout Shelter and The Elder Scrolls: Blades. Senior Vice President of Product Development Todd Vaughn said they were impressed with the quality and depth of the mobile titles developed by Alpha Dog Games. The Canadian development studio born in 2021 by Shawn Woods and Jeff Cameron has produced mobile projects such as Ninja Golf, MonstroCity, Rampage and Wraithborne. Currently they haven't announced anything about future mobile projects yet, but given the time that has elapsed since the acquisition, we expect some news in the short term.
