Romero initially outraged by id acquisition

By Robert Purchese Published 25 June, 2009

But has now calmed down and is "positive".

id Software co-founder John Romero has reacted to news the firm has been acquired by ZeniMax, stating life at his old employer will never be the same again.

"ZENIMAX??????? Disgusting," Tweeted Romero (spotted by vg247) upon hearing the news. "Fallout 3 bought DOOM. Wow."

Hours later, he added: "I am positive about the ZeniMax deal. My initial reaction was harsh. Sorry. I guess I was shocked and sad to see the id Software of old changed forever today. It's a new day and a new id."

John Romero left id Software in 1996 to form Ion Storm, the studio that made Daikatana and later Deus Ex.

id Software's John Carmack explained the ZeniMax acquisition as an opportunity to move into a publishing role; a way to "grow and extend all our franchises under one roof". He said he had become "tired" of negotiating with publishing partners for marketing budgets.

The acquisition announcement claimed staff and working practices at id Software remain unchanged.

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!

  • Gnort #1 3 years ago

    ZeniMax Software will make you its bitch.

    Is Romero doing anything of note these days, or does he just hang around so he can be the punchline to a bunch of industry jokes?

  • Ranger101 #2 3 years ago

    Haha, the best thing about this is that GoD/Ion Storm was the same idea.

  • davisorle #3 3 years ago

    Yeah, ZeniMax is aiming high now with some strong IPs by aquiring ID and if you think about it you can excuse his reactionn for being an elder of that group back in the days. Took him a while to see it possitive. I don't find it fully unexcused other than that he should of thought of it this way before he does give an answer. I guess he found out when he gave that answer? No clue. Anyhow, Romero do something noticable for us gamers pls ^^

    ZeniMax in order to not go great now.. they have to screw up really bad somehow that seems just impossible to achieve now.

  • rudedudejude #4 3 years ago

    The guy is a complete and utter waste of space.

    Thanks for killing off Looking Glass romero you dick, with your crappy Dicktana.

  • penhalion #5 3 years ago

    I must confess that I don't get what ZeniMax gains by buying ID. Since Doom3, I haven't actually been looking forward to anything made directly by ID.

    Wolfenstein is made by Raven and published by Activision, using the ID engine. Rage seems to be taking forever, for what is arguably a straight forward FPS and I can't think of anything else they had lined up unless you count Doom 4. Carmack goes on about finally self publishing but, how are they self publishing, when they are owned by a publisher?

  • Triggerhappytel #6 3 years ago

    Methinks he got his wrist slapped after the initial comment.

    Seriously though; what business is it of his, since he left id fucking years ago? He should be grateful they weren't bought up by someone like Ubisoft or ActiBlizz.

    EDIT - yeah, I agree penhalion, but then I've never really enjoyed any id games, bar Doom 1 back in the day and a bit of Quake 2 as well. Still, their games must sell well, and ZeniMax must have wanted their technology, so here we are. And, to be fair, isn't Rage an open-world driving game/FPS cross? It's pretty ambitious, so I can see it taking a long time to come to market.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/09 @ 10:07

  • Maykael #7 3 years ago

    @Triggerhappytel:
    Rage isn't open world, it seems you will be moving in a linear fashion from quest hub to quest hub doing some sidequests if you wish and taking care of the main story. But I do agree, it's an ambitious game.

  • insincere_dave #8 3 years ago

    Who?

  • Optimaximal #9 3 years ago

    @Adam_T

    wut?

  • Spindle #10 3 years ago

    @Optimaximal
    The rumour goes that Eidos was going to buy and therefore 'save' Looking Glass but because they poured so much money into the black hole that was Ion Storm they couldn't afford to.

  • wellzy4eva #11 3 years ago

    Id Software have suffered for having a slow development cycle in comparison to other companies (I'm looking at you Epic Games) and I'm guessing that since their fall from grace as the best FPS designer in the world they don't get the leeway and developer freedom that they used to have from their old publisher.

    I'm guessing Romero is just remembering the old days (I mean he left when they were the biggest commodity in PC Gaming) and is sad that a company who his reputation still gets a shine for being affiliated with is going corporate just like the rest.

    I guess it'd be the same if Valve was bought by EA.

  • rudedudejude #12 3 years ago

    Dicktana? Looking Glass Software?

    If none of this rings any bells then stick to your consoles, old skool pc industry news.

    Because of him stealing all of the studio money for his shit game, Looking Glass (made one of the best series ever created) had to split.

    And Dicktana was a load of shit.

  • Eldritch #13 3 years ago

    John Romero cleans my toilet. A poor man's Vanilla Ice.

  • Evolution #14 3 years ago

    It gives Zenimax a nice technology developer, if nothing else.

  • Muneeb #15 3 years ago

    Romero is a complete waste of space. What is he even doing in this industry anymore? Move out - we don't need a piece of crap like you! He caused the failure of the original Ion Storm offices (not the one studio which created Deus Ex) and his management skills and ideas suck. Poor LGS. =( And well said Adam_T.

  • ccfb #16 3 years ago

    Does anyone really care what this spanner has got to say anymore?

  • makeamazing #17 3 years ago

    So he leaves a company in 1996 and is complaining that they have been sold... seriously get a grip.. whats with some peoples anger these days.

  • AphoticCosmos #18 3 years ago

    Daikatana.

    Why does this man have any credibility after that epic failure?

  • the_mtfr #19 3 years ago

    Is Romero retarded? Acting like a 10 year old with invectives on the damn Twitter. What a loser.