Microsoft is made with ZeniMax Media, a purchase that implies the arrival of series like The Elder Scrolls, DOOM or Fallout to the Xbox ecosystem.
It’s still hard to assimilate, but Bethesda becomes part of Xbox Game Studios. A movement worth 7,500 million dollars has closed the purchase of ZeniMax Media by Microsoft, with all that this implies for the video game division led by Phil Spencer. The North American giant, aware of how important a strengthened ecosystem will be for the imminent new generation of consoles, has increased the internal teams of its label from 15 to 23. And they are not just anyone.
Because all the IPs of the American private entity become part of Microsoft; including offices in North America, Asia and Europe. A total of 2,300 workers spread over 8 large studios that, according to what they say, none will lose their jobs. Xbox players will win, however, by incorporating names like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, DOOM or Dishonored into their library, among many other well-known and other intellectual properties resulting from the developments that are now underway. And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this article, the sagas that Xbox Game Studios adds to its ranks, the video games that Xbox Game Pass users will be able to enjoy soon.
What is surely the most important movement in the video game sector since Activision’s purchase of Blizzard has materialized in a surprising way, without leaks through; a strong financial exercise that makes the 14 studios at PlayStation Studios seem less than that. This November the new generation will begin with Xbox Series X | S and PlayStation 5; a generation that, as in the past, seems more linked than ever to exclusive video games as an element of persuasion for the buyer.
We did not see the reality that we have coming: Bethesda is already owned by Xbox. Another way to say it: Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios. Let’s get to know each one of them in depth and put a name and surname to what is added to the big X.
From before to now. Xbox Game Studios is not just a name change.
Bethesda Game Studios
The main development team of the Maryland company. Since 2001 they work as a multidisciplinary division, capable of lending a hand to any of the rest of the team or assuming the responsibility of carrying out licensing projects such as The Elder Scrolls or Fallout. This is where Todd Howard is as executive producer and this is where no less than 400 of the 2,300 workers at Bethesda Softworks are.
At the structural level, the skeleton of Bethesda Game Studios is made up of three large venues that work in an interconnected way: one in Montreal, Canada; and two others in the state of Texas, United States.
Xbox Game Studios: twenty-three already
What began with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind back in 2002 – curiously, closely linked to Microsoft, where it had an exclusive agreement with Xbox on consoles – went through Oblivion, Skyrim and the wasteland of Fallout 3 and 4. A catalog almost immaculate of which only one stumble is remembered, Fallout 76, which is now surely the precise vision of what Howard’s team wished for in the first place.
Whether it’s late or not for Fallout 76, the truth is that fans are now taking a closer look at two projects that are actually a long way off: Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI. None have a date, we only know that the order of publication will be the same: first the new IP, then the sixth numbered episode of the fantasy role-playing series.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Featured Games: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4. They work on Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI.
id Software
The kings of the FPS. Based in Mesquite, Texas, this study with almost thirty years of experience is responsible for shaping Wolfenstein, DOOM, Quake or Rage. Things have changed a lot since the couple of John Carmack and John Romero began to leave their mark, a very particular way of seeing shooting video games that has been inherited over the years to the profiles that came later. A couple of hundred employees able to seal their name in history with works that are still icons of the FPS today.
DOOM
Id Software also stands out for its contribution to the world of graphics engines. Its Quake Engine (in three major variants (and Doom 3 Engine, all released under the GPL, are outsourced tools for others like MachineGames to do the same in one of the legacy licenses, Wolfenstein, which now runs in the Swedish team’s offices. The influence of Id Software is difficult to quantify, as many designs now in place depend on them. Marty Stratton, principal director of the studio that recently signed the celebrated DOOM Eternal, is currently leading the saga with his colleague Hugo Martin. The future It is not written, but your home will now be Xbox.
- Featured Games: Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Quake, Rage, DOOM.
ZeniMax Online Studios
Born in 2007 to work on what would be the translation of some of Bethesda’s flagship sagas to the online world, this team of nearly 300 employees is responsible for The Elder Scrolls Online. More than five years specializing in the development of massively multiplayer video games until, in 2010, they announced that they would use the Fork Particle SDK to recreate particle effects in a still unannounced MMO. Years went by, closing deals with Splunk and Elastic Path until finally, after extensive development, the still growing TES Online would hit the market in 2014.
The Elder Scrolls Online
That conversion to massively multiplayer online didn’t go so well in Fallout, with a Fallout 76 aiming to make the wasteland RPG license an always-on community. Currently, Fallout 76 has nothing to do with what it was at its launch, where the synonyms of disaster surfaced in the press and forums. A process of reinvention, additions like the expected NPCs and fervent support from the community wrapped up a video game with the will to do things right. Whether or not now too late, ZeniMax Online Studios is now working on Commander Keen for iOS and Android.
- Featured Games: The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76.
Arkane studios
We left the United States and traveled to Europe. Arkane Studios, founded in 1999, is surely one of the studios with the best curriculum when it comes to level design. Raphael Colantonio founded the 2002 study by Arx Fatalis, which by 2006 had grown enough to open an additional headquarters in Texas that would be much closer to the rest of Bethesda’s top teams.
His early years stood out for the discretion in his publications, but it would not be until 2012 when the name of Arkane began to resonate in half the world through stealth and first-person gameplay with Dishonored. ZeniMax’s purchase of the studio in 2010 made two things possible: economic capital and human capital. That creative talent would now be supported by funds, by financial peace of mind and forgetting about limitations.
Dishonored 2
The generation of PS3 and Xbox 360 was the terrain where they began to make it clear that they were not beginners and that, despite the canceled projects that are known (such as The Crossing or an episode of Half Life 2), their projection was unstoppable. In 2016 we had Dishonored 2 and in 2017 Prey, two titles that are expected to be among the first chosen to make the jump to Xbox Game Pass whenever those additions are fired. Judging from the hints on the Xbox itself, it looks like DOOM Eternal will be the first to do so.
The next step for Arkane is Deathloop, which has been delayed to 2021 by the added hardships of COVID-19. His goal was to be in time for the launch of PlayStation 5, but ultimately it will not be. Regarding that exclusivity on the Sony platform, Phil Spencer has declared that he will respect that agreement (same with Ghostwire: Tokyo, from Tango Gameworks); although what is signed is that you can only watch on Sony consoles for a year.
- Featured Games: Dishonored, Dishonored 2, Prey.
MachineGames
We remain on the old continent and focus now on the team based in Uppsala, a modest city near Stockholm, Sweden. MachineGames, founded in 2009 by seven Starbreeze Studios personalities such as Jens Matthies, Jerk Gustafsson and Fredrik Ljungdahl, would receive in 2010 the opportunity of a lifetime: to start working with the backing of ZeniMax Media with the Bethesda Softworks label. Surely they would not have imagined it, but its debut would be a heavyweight on the company’s list of intellectual properties: Wolfenstein.
Wolfenstein: The New Colossus
The work of this team, one of the smallest in Bethesda today, is full of praise and words of appreciation. Their bravery in reinterpreting Wolfenstein with The New Order in 2014 can be understood as a declaration of intent: they were not bluffing. Versatility in the development of levels, pointing mechanics and a great artificial intelligence combined a very remarkable product, well narrated. Raw. Much like The Old Blood. It wasn’t until its sequel, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, that all doubts disappeared: there was more than just talent here. After Youngblood and Cyberpilot, both co-developed with Arkane Studios, the simple thing would be to think that they will be the ones who will start working on an eventual Wolfenstein III, perhaps one of the first names resulting after the purchase that has surprised half the world.
- Featured Games: Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus.
Tango Gameworks
To speak of Tango is to speak of Shinji Mikami, the only Japanese studio owned by Xbox Game Studios. Phil Spencer has made numerous trips to the Land of the Rising Sun in recent years with the aim of strengthening the Xbox name in Asia, where its sales currently do not reach a hundred units per week. Bringing Tango into the equation is also a way to ensure that the creative vision of a Resident Evil parent is inscribed in the Xbox logo going forward.
The Evil Within 2
Tango Gameworks was founded in 2010 by Mikami with only fifteen employees, but little by little it has grown to close to a hundred. The vintage is from the Capcom of the early 2000s, with components from PlatinumGames, Clover Studio, Grasshopper Manufacture and Tango itself, which in 2011 was made with part of the staff of the closed Game Republic. The studio’s first project was The Evil Within back in 2014, a title with notable critical success and that little by little has been gaining the respect of the community, which now even raises it to a cult game for what it meant for its sequel, The Evil Within 2, a video game that was very popular in this writing.
The next project from Mikami’s team is Ghostwire: Tokyo, a first-person horror game that, according to the creative, is the project in which he has spent the most time: skills, spells, technological resources, supernatural threats … Again, As with Arkane’s Deathloop, the exclusivity agreement is for one year; from there, it is possible that they see the light on Xbox consoles.
- Featured Games: The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Alpha Dog Games
It was last October when we learned that Bethesda acquired the Alpha Dog Games studio, a Canadian company based in Nova Scotia with experience in mobile devices. However, something called the attention of the North American giant’s team so that they took the step and took over all its assets. “We are impressed with the commitment to quality of the Alpha Dog team,” said Todd Vaugh, vice president of development at Bethesda. A small, modest team, founded in 2012. It remains to be seen what they are capable of if they are given the necessary resources and economic power to take their talent to something great. So far, in his resume we find MonstroCity: Rampage and the remake of Ninja Golf, the original from Atari.
Roundhouse studios
Shortly after the Alpha Dog movement became known, Bethesda announced in November an internal studio, of its own, called Roundhouse Studios. This team, founded with the aim of recovering employees of Human Head Studios (which closed a few days before after publishing Rune II), now unemployed. The creative director of the studio declared himself very happy for this opportunity, since both he and the other 21 employees of the company, founded in 2006 in Wisconsin, were left without being able to make reality some of the ideas that they were no longer going to be able to materialize. Roundhouse Studios is the rebirth of Human Head and, as indicated, they already had “several projects” unannounced.
