Remember Wolfenstein? Doom? Quake? The brains behind those award-winning, ground-breaking games, id Software, is now part of ZeniMax Media, Inc., and more specifically belongs to ZeniMax’s gaming-focused division, Bethesda Softworks. The acquisition was announced today, with the hope that the marriage “brings together two of world’s best game studios.”

The Texas-based id Software has carved out an impressive niche in the gaming market for pioneering efforts the first-person shooter field. For nearly twenty years, id has been building an empire of classic game series like Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and the not-yet-released Rage. The success and longevity of id Software is highly respected among gaming companies.

Few companies in the gaming industry remain independent, especially for as long as id Software has. And for financial backing, continued security, and long-term success, id Software is now part of the much-larger ZeniMax Media. In spite of the acquisition, id Software will function as it has all along—developing high-quality games. In fact, id is in the process of developing Rage, a futuristic car-racing game. Although Electronic Arts will still publish Rage, ZeniMax Media is entitled to all future publications.

In addition to being an all-systems go for game development, id hopes to grow, according to one of the founding fathers of id Software, John Carmack. “Now, id can expand,” he told reporters. “It is going to mean a lot for us.” What was the problem before? Carmack explains, “the sense of competing with your publishers…that definitely has an impact on a lot of the areas of our business.” The scene had become too complicated. Working with, or rather “competing with,” their own publishers became cumbersome and unprofitable. In the new arrangement, id Software will do what it’s truly good at—make awesome games.

The mind muscle behind those awesome games remains, since senior software developers are still working for id. Long-term contracts, signed by the principals, means that management, creative ideas, and a passion for high-quality gaming remain id’s core activity.

id is in good hands. After all, Bethesda Game Studios, the division of ZeniMax under which id falls, is a premier game developer in its own right. Just last year, they rallied dozens and dozens of Game of the Year Awards for games such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. With the merger finally complete, we can probably expect id studios, now under new ownership, to feed the appetites of hungry gamers who are more interested in cool games than they are in who owns who.

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