Bethesda Softworks facts for kids
Logo used since 2010
|
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | June 28, 1986 in Bethesda, Maryland, United States |
| Founder | Christopher Weaver |
| Headquarters |
,
United States
|
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
|
| Products | List of Bethesda Softworks video games |
| Parent |
|
| Divisions | Bethesda Game Studios |
Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American company that publishes video games. It is located in Rockville, Maryland. Christopher Weaver started the company in 1986. It was first a part of Media Technology Limited. In 1999, it became a company owned by ZeniMax Media.
For its first 15 years, Bethesda Softworks also developed games. They published their own games too. In 2001, Bethesda created a separate game development team called Bethesda Game Studios. After that, Bethesda Softworks focused only on publishing games.
In March 2021, Microsoft bought ZeniMax Media, which owns Bethesda. Microsoft decided that Bethesda would keep working as a separate business. Bethesda Softworks is now part of the Microsoft Gaming division. It continues to publish games made by different studios under ZeniMax Media.
Contents
How Bethesda Softworks Started
Early Days and First Game
Christopher Weaver, the founder, worked with technology and communications. He helped design fast internet systems. He also influenced laws about phones, TV, and cable.
Weaver also started another company called VideoMagic Laboratories. They tried to make new entertainment systems. But these ideas were too early for their time.
Later, Weaver started Media Technology Associates in 1981. This company gave advice on engineering and media.
At Media Technology, Weaver and Ed Fletcher started experimenting with a new computer. Fletcher loved American football. He suggested they make a football video game. Weaver agreed, even though he wasn't a fan of the sport.
Fletcher created the game, called Gridiron!, in about nine months. They wanted the game to feel realistic. It used a physics-based system for players' movements.
Founding Bethesda Softworks
Weaver officially started Bethesda Softworks on June 28, 1986. It was a part of Media Technology. He wanted to see if making games for personal computers would work.
The company's first game, Gridiron!, came out in 1986. It was for Amiga, Atari ST, and Commodore 64 computers. They only released a few hundred copies at first. But they sold out in just one week! This surprised everyone at Bethesda.
Bethesda's early games were well-received by game critics. Another company, Electronic Arts, hired Bethesda to help with their football game. Bethesda also had a disagreement with Electronic Arts about Gridiron!. They settled the issue outside of court.
Growing the Company in the 1990s
In 1990, Bethesda Softworks moved to Rockville, Maryland. They also released a graphics software called By Design. By 1993, the company had 40 employees.
Famous Game Series Begins
Bethesda's first game based on a popular movie was The Terminator. It came out in July 1991.
In 1994, Bethesda released The Elder Scrolls: Arena. This game became very well-known. It was the first game in The Elder Scrolls series. This series is a type of game called a role-playing video game. Many sequels have been released since then. These include The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall in 1996.
Bethesda also worked on a space combat game called The 10th Planet. This was with a film company. But the film company stopped working on it. So, the game was never released.
In 1995, Bethesda Softworks bought Flashpoint Productions. This company made the game Noctropolis. Bruce Nesmith joined Bethesda as a Senior Producer in July 1995. In August 1995, Bethesda launched its website.
Challenges and New Ownership
In 1997, Bethesda bought XL Translab, a graphics company. By 1996, Bethesda was a big player in the PC game publishing world. They had 75 employees.
In 1997, Bethesda worked with CBS Enterprises. They planned to make games based on the TV show Pensacola: Wings of Gold.
In 1997 and 1998, Bethesda released two spin-off games from The Elder Scrolls. These were Battlespire and Redguard. But these games did not sell as well as Daggerfall and Arena. Sales for the company went down. Bethesda even thought about going out of business.
In October 1999, Pete Hines joined Bethesda to lead their marketing team. At that time, the company had about 15 people in its main office.
In 1999, Christopher Weaver and Robert A. Altman created a new company called ZeniMax Media. ZeniMax Media bought Media Technology in July 1999. Bethesda Softworks then became a part of ZeniMax. By then, Bethesda had almost 100 employees.
Bethesda's Journey in the 2000s
In 2001, Bethesda Game Studios was created. This team would focus on developing games. Bethesda Softworks then focused only on publishing games for ZeniMax Media.
Acquiring the Fallout Series
In 2004, Bethesda Softworks gained the rights to the Fallout game series. They got these rights from Interplay Entertainment. The development of Fallout 3 was given to Bethesda Game Studios. Fallout 3 was released on October 28, 2008. Several extra content packs were released for Fallout 3 later.
Another Fallout game, Fallout: New Vegas, was published in 2010. Fallout 4 was released on November 10, 2015.
Between 2004 and 2008, other ZeniMax companies released bowling games. In January 2006, Bethesda also got the rights to the Star Trek video game series.
Expanding Publishing and New Studios
Between 2007 and 2010, Bethesda raised a lot of money to help them grow. In 2008, they opened a European publishing office in London. This office helped distribute games in Europe. They later opened offices in other cities around the world.
On June 24, 2009, ZeniMax Media bought id Software. Bethesda Softworks would publish id Software's games, like Rage. From 2009 to 2012, Bethesda published games from other game developers too. These included Rogue Warrior, Wet, Brink, and Hunted: The Demon's Forge.
Bethesda in the 2010s
In 2011, Bethesda had a disagreement with Mojang, the creators of Minecraft. Bethesda felt that Mojang's new card game, Scrolls, sounded too much like The Elder Scrolls.
In the early 2010s, Bethesda Softworks published popular games like Dishonored, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and The Evil Within.
Trying New Game Types
Around the mid-2010s, Bethesda started trying new kinds of games. In 2015, they released Fallout Shelter. This was their first mobile, free-to-play game. A year later, they released a new version of id Software's Doom.
Later, virtual pinball versions of Bethesda games were released. These included The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 4, and the 2016 Doom. Bethesda also released two more free-to-play mobile games based on The Elder Scrolls. These were The Elder Scrolls: Legends (a card game) in 2017 and The Elder Scrolls: Blades (a role-playing game) in 2019.
When Nintendo showed its new console, the Nintendo Switch, Bethesda supported it. They released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Doom for the Switch in 2017. They also ported Fallout Shelter to the Switch.
Some games like Prey and The Evil Within 2 did not sell as well as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls.
In late 2018, Bethesda released its first massively multiplayer online game, Fallout 76. This game is a prequel to the Fallout series. It received mixed reviews when it first came out.
The next year, Bethesda announced sequels to Rage and Doom. These were Rage 2 and Doom Eternal. Rage 2 was released in May 2019. Doom Eternal came out in early 2020.
In November 2019, Human Head Studios closed down. Bethesda then started a new studio called Roundhouse Studios. They offered jobs to all the Human Head employees.
Bethesda also had its own application launcher for PC games. Fallout 76 and Fallout Shelter were first only available on this launcher. But they were later released on Steam. In 2022, Bethesda closed down its launcher.
Bethesda in the 2020s
In March 2020, Bethesda Softworks published Doom Eternal. This game was a sequel to the 2016 Doom. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. The release of the game was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. A remastered version of Doom 64 was also released.
Microsoft Acquires ZeniMax
In September 2020, Microsoft agreed to buy Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Media, for $7.5 billion. This meant Microsoft would own all of Bethesda's game development teams. The deal was completed on March 9, 2021.
After the purchase, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said that future Bethesda games would mainly be released on platforms that have Xbox Game Pass. This includes Windows and Xbox Series X/S consoles.
In September 2021, Bethesda published Deathloop. This was a first-person shooter game. The next March, Bethesda released Ghostwire: Tokyo. Both games were first released as timed exclusives for PlayStation 5. This was because of agreements made before Microsoft bought ZeniMax. Later, both games were released on Xbox Series X/S.
In January 2023, Bethesda announced and released Hi-Fi Rush. This game's development was kept secret on purpose. In May 2023, Bethesda launched Redfall. This game received mixed to negative reviews. People criticized its story and technical problems.
In September 2023, Bethesda published Starfield. This game was developed by Bethesda Game Studios. It was the studio's first completely new game idea in over 25 years. Starfield quickly became very popular. It reached ten million players across Xbox and PC by September 19, 2023. This made it the biggest launch for Bethesda as a publisher.
In October 2023, Pete Hines, Bethesda's head of publishing, announced he would retire. In December 2023, Jill Braff was appointed to lead Bethesda and ZeniMax Media's development teams.
Studio Closures in 2024
In May 2024, Microsoft announced that four Bethesda studios would close. This was part of a big change in Bethesda's operations. Arkane Austin (who made Prey and Redfall), Tango Gameworks (who made The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush), and Alpha Dog Games closed completely. Roundhouse Studios joined ZeniMax Online Studios.
Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Content and Studios, explained that these closures were to focus on "high-impact titles." Many fans and people in the game industry were upset by these closures. Especially the closing of Tango Gameworks, which had just released the popular game Hi-Fi Rush.
In August 2024, the South Korean publisher Krafton announced they had bought Tango Gameworks and the Hi-Fi Rush game rights from Microsoft and Bethesda. Krafton plans to continue developing Hi-Fi Rush and other projects.
Games Published by Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks has published many games over the years. Here are some of the well-known series and games:
- Wayne Gretzky Hockey (1988–1992)
- Terminator series (1990–1996)
- The Elder Scrolls series (1994–present)
- IHRA Drag Racing series (2000–2006)
- Pirates of the Caribbean series (2003–2006)
- Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (2005)
- Star Trek series (2006–2007)
- Fallout series (2008–present)
- Wet (2009)
- Rogue Warrior (2009)
- Rage series (2010–2019)
- Brink (2011)
- Hunted: The Demon's Forge (2011)
- Dishonored series (2012–2017)
- Doom series (2012–present)
- Wolfenstein series (2014–present)
- The Evil Within series (2014–2017)
- Prey (2017)
- Deathloop (2021)
- Ghostwire: Tokyo (2022)
- Hi-Fi Rush (2023)
- Redfall (2023)
- Starfield (2023)
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (2024)
Game Technology: XnGine
XnGine is a 3-D graphics engine. Bethesda developed it in the 1990s. This engine helped make games look more realistic. It allowed for faster action and free camera movement.
XnGine could create weather effects like snow and fog. It also made realistic shadows and textured landscapes. A designer named Todd Howard said that XnGine was a true 3D engine. It had great lighting effects. Lights from fires or explosions would light up everything around them.
The Terminator: Future Shock was the first game to use XnGine. It was also one of the first PC games to use a mouse to look around. This was a new idea at the time. The engine was also used in games like Terminator: SkyNET, Daggerfall, and XCar: Experimental Racing.
Disagreements with Other Developers
Bethesda Softworks has had some disagreements with other game developers.
In 2001, Bethesda published a game called Echelon. The Russian company that made the game said Bethesda did not pay them for some sales. Bethesda said they had no agreement to pay them.
Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax Media have also been accused of trying to take over other studios. For example, they were accused of trying to buy Human Head Studios and Arkane Studios.
Bethesda also asked a developer called No Matter Games to change the name of their game. The game was first called Prey for the Gods. Bethesda felt this name was too similar to their own game, Prey. Bethesda said they needed to protect their Prey trademark. So, the game's name was changed to Praey for the Gods.
Legal Cases
In September 2009, Bethesda Softworks sued Interplay Entertainment. This was about the Fallout trademark. After a long legal fight, they settled in January 2012. Bethesda gained the right to make a Fallout online game. They also got the rights to older Fallout games.
In September 2011, ZeniMax Media sued Mojang. ZeniMax said Mojang's game title Scrolls was too close to Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls series. In March 2012, they reached an agreement. Mojang would not trademark Scrolls, but Bethesda would allow them to use the name as long as it wasn't a direct competitor to The Elder Scrolls.
In 2018, Bethesda Softworks sued Behaviour Interactive. This company developed Fallout Shelter. Bethesda claimed Behaviour copied the game's design for a mobile game based on the Westworld TV show. The issue was settled, and Bethesda dropped the lawsuit.
Microsoft Studio Closures
In May 2024, Microsoft announced that four Bethesda studios would close. This was part of a big change in Bethesda's operations. Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games stopped working. Roundhouse Studios joined ZeniMax Online Studios.
Matt Booty, who leads Xbox Game Content and Studios, said these closures were to focus on "priority games." Many people in the gaming world were very upset by these decisions. Especially the closing of Tango Gameworks, which had just released the popular game Hi-Fi Rush.
Fans on Steam showed their support for Tango Gameworks. They left many positive reviews for Hi-Fi Rush after the news.
The closures also caused strong reactions from other game developers. Some felt that the people who made the games were suffering, not the people who made money from them.
In August 2024, Krafton announced they had bought Tango Gameworks and the Hi-Fi Rush game rights from Microsoft and Bethesda. Krafton plans to continue making games with the Tango team.
See also
In Spanish: Bethesda Softworks para niños
