Yesterday Bethesda Softworks’ parent company, ZeniMax Media announced that it had acquired id Software, the developer behind the popular Quake, Doom and Wolfenstein franchises.
While all parties involved expressed excitement over the deal, stating that Bethesda’s financial support would enable id Software to grow and improve, one of id Software’s original founders, John Romero, reacted harshly on his Twitter feed.
Romero issued two Twitter reactions: “ZENIMAX??????? Disgusting,” and then later “Fallout 3 bought DOOM. Wow.”
Romero founded id Software in 1991 along with Tom Hall, John Carmack and Adrian Carmack. He then left id Software in 1996 to form Ion Storm along with Tim Hall. Ion Storm closed its doors in 2001 and Romero went on to join Slipgate Networks.
A few hours after making his initial negative comments Romero issued a formal apology, stating that he reacted harshly and is actually “positive about the Zenimax deal.”
“I guess I was shocked and sad to see the id Software of old changed forever today,” going on to say “it’s a new day and a new id.”
id Software has been known to be one of the longest standing and most well respected independent games developers in the world. This is no longer the case as the developer now has a big publisher behind its name. While many mourn the end of id Software’s independence and what it stands for, other industry players have responded positively.
3D Realms’ George Broussard commented, “There’s no better company that could have bought id”.
Previous id Software publishing partner Activision issued a short statement, saying that they “congratulate id and wish them well on their new endeavors.”
While id Software has current publishing deals in place for Wolfenstein and Rage, we expect future games such as Doom 4 to be published under the Bethesda Softworks banner.
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