Carmack was "tired" of publisher deals

By Robert Purchese Published 24 June, 2009

Acquisition sees id become own boss.

John Carmack has explained that key attraction of being acquired by Bethesda parent ZeniMax media was the opportunity to become a publisher and no longer battle for marketing budget.

"We're really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured. And we've really gotten more IPs than we've been able to take advantage of. And working with other companies hasn't been working out as spectacularly as it could. So the idea of actually becoming a publisher and merging Bethesda and ZeniMax on there [is ideal]," the id Software star told Kotaku.

"It would be hard to imagine a more complementary relationship. They are triple A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs. And they have no overlap with all the things we do in the FPSes."

Bethesda announced the acquisition of id Software just moments ago. The Quake and Doom maker will remain largely untouched by the deal, retaining all key staff and working practises.

Crucially, development of Rage will continue as normal, with the added benefit of ZeniMax and Bethesda's support.

We'll find out much more when we jet off to QuakeCon in August.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_dudefather #1 3 years ago

    'fuck this shit, let's release games as shareware again!'

  • Senate #2 3 years ago

    oh baby!

  • Prox #3 3 years ago

    Seems like Brink would overlap with id's shooters, no?

  • lambtron #4 3 years ago

    "But what about games like Doom 4, Wolfenstein and Rage? "

    They belong to ID as they always have.

  • Ranger101 #5 3 years ago

    EA were only involved in a publishing and distribution level. Carmack has never, ever liked publishers.

  • Retroid #6 3 years ago

    End of an era. Even though they've hardly had any stellar successes for a few years now I always expected them to remain on their own simply because, well, they're iD.

    If this gives them more freedom, though, then I hope it works out for them.

    Elder Scrolls 5 engine: confirmed! ;)

  • Chaser #7 3 years ago

    Guess Carmack's going to be plowing more money in to his spaceships then :)

  • Eldritch #8 3 years ago

    @Retroid: Don't forget Fallout 4! :D

  • Physically_Insane #9 3 years ago

    Anybody who reads this is a cock.

    +1 me guys!

  • Dezm0nd #10 3 years ago

    This new comments system is bollocks, i just end up seeing loads of names but no actual text.

    damn I can't minus my own comment to add it to the stupidity.
    Edited by 2 at 24/06/09 @ 19:34

  • MeBrains #11 3 years ago

    i suppose this is good news. iD has always went to extremes to further 3D technology and were able to create excellent demonstration games to go with it - pardon me for calling them so.

    the grip of a publisher is not to be underestimated and I think iD is better of without them... good going.

  • GamesConnoisseur #12 3 years ago

    This new comments system is bollocks, i just end up seeing loads of names but no actual text.

    NOTE: Just change your comment threshold to SHOW ALL or whichever lowest rating you would be comfortable with, I m happy to go for show all as too much a fun to miss out on the rabid fanboys and rants! Ratings are useful in where you see how individual comments are seen by majority of readers.

    IE negative or positive, I know we do '+1 or +1000' and this is the same thing but more easier to actually rate the comments.

    Good addition I thought... only when setting to show all threshold.

  • the_mtfr #13 3 years ago

    While the new rating system looks tops, it's funny Prox's comment got voted down even though he came with some info that EG didn't bother to add in the news. So I'll have to give Prox a +1 the old way :)

  • curtlikesmeat #14 3 years ago

    Hopefully this means Elder Scrolls V will look amazing if they're sharing tech?

  • dylman #15 3 years ago

    Carmack could probably whip them up a new 3D engine for the next Elder Scrolls game in one of his lunch breaks, no bother.

  • prettyboytim #16 3 years ago

    Perhaps Armadillo Aerospace needed some more funding?

  • makeamazing #17 3 years ago

    I might be wrong, but its not like ID had released anything for a while, and development of Rage must have cost them alot of money.. so I wonder if its more they didnt want to run out of funds?

  • videogangs #18 3 years ago

    Yeah this can only be a good thing. iDTech5 would be a perfect fit for the next Elder Scrolls game too, hopefully they share resources in this way as it would let Bethesda get on with making a good RPG without worrying about the several trillion bugs they seem to have to iron out.

  • m0thr4 #19 3 years ago

    This new comments system is bollocks, i just end up seeing loads of names but no actual text.

    Personal preference I guess; I actually don't enjoy reading trolling posts, but when I put that poster on my ignore list and people insist on feeding those trolls, the threads end up making no sense at all.

    With this new system, I don't need to ignore anyone - it's done for me... and if I really want to check on the original troll post that everyone is getting worked up about, I can quickly view it, add a -1 and forget about it.