Posted September 09, 2009
Why does everyone think that Bethesda only make RPGs? They have made more sports, FPS and other action games than they have RPGs. It's just that they're most famous for TES and Fallout 3.
Navagon
Easily Persuaded
Registered: Dec 2008
From United Kingdom
Why does everyone think that Bethesda only make RPGs? They have made more sports, FPS and other action games than they have RPGs. It's just that they're most famous for TES and Fallout 3.
cioran
Pessimist
Registered: Jul 2009
From United States
Posted September 09, 2009
They didn't develop them, though. They published them. The decent ones, at least (Call of Cthulhu, etc).
Also, most of the games they developed that weren't RPGs were trash. AMF Bowling, Where's Waldo?, and High Rollers Casino weren't exactly GotY material. I think they're smart enough to stick with what they're good at.
Post edited September 09, 2009 by cioran
Navagon
Easily Persuaded
Registered: Dec 2008
From United Kingdom
Posted September 09, 2009
Also, most of the games they developed that weren't RPGs were trash. AMF Bowling, Where's Waldo?, and High Rollers Casino weren't exactly GotY material. I think they're smart enough to stick with what they're good at.
They developed a Terminator FPS that was pretty damn good for the time. But I have to agree that their track record with Non-RPG titles isn't so hot, to say the least. They seem more inclined to play the role of publisher than developer these days.
drmlessgames
Dosbox l337
Registered: Mar 2009
From Peru
Posted September 09, 2009
Howard's on both boards and they're both based out of Rockville and use the same offices. The company is essentially a legal fiction designed to get Altman on the board. He was highly suspect after being indicted for misc. nastiness at his old company BCCI. He beat the criminal rap, but was banned from banking for life on a civil one. Long story short - he was basically un-hireable and zenimax is more or less a way to get around that involving stock transfers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_International#The_forced_closure_of_BCCI
Still, I mostly agree. I kind of doubt "Prey" will suddenly be a free-roaming RPG. I sincerely doubt Bethesda will develop it. Like other posters have suggested, it uses ID's engine, so I think if it's developed in-house, it'll be them.
Yes, I didnt know about Robert Altman's involvement in the BCCI bank scandal until I read more about Zenimax. It kinda worries me that this guy is the CEO of the company that now owns id software. But OTOH, i dont think Zenimax is just a "legal name" for Robert Altman, since if you look into their board of directors, there are many interesting names on it. Robert Altman is only one of them sitting at the table. I'd say there are more important people than him there. They own bethesda, id, a mobile games company, and some other assets too.
cioran
Pessimist
Registered: Jul 2009
From United States
Posted September 09, 2009
Howard's on both boards and they're both based out of Rockville and use the same offices. The company is essentially a legal fiction designed to get Altman on the board. He was highly suspect after being indicted for misc. nastiness at his old company BCCI. He beat the criminal rap, but was banned from banking for life on a civil one. Long story short - he was basically un-hireable and zenimax is more or less a way to get around that involving stock transfers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_International#The_forced_closure_of_BCCI
Still, I mostly agree. I kind of doubt "Prey" will suddenly be a free-roaming RPG. I sincerely doubt Bethesda will develop it. Like other posters have suggested, it uses ID's engine, so I think if it's developed in-house, it'll be them.
Boards are a funny thing. A lot of them have no-show meetings. I don't know how familar you are with American business practices, but this one has a form I've seen before. Really big names (Moonves, Bruckheimer) don't actually go to these meetings. Ever. They just wind up with seats because of related investments or various other ties. Essentially they have a veto (that they rarely exercise) and a paycheck.
Considering the way this one's set up and the way everyone in the industry always confuses Bethesda Softworks and Zenimax, which have the same physical location....
I'm just saying, I doubt anyone else on the board have any clout though they might have minor input if they show up. The president might, but the way this is set up that's about it besides maybe the Providence guys (the main money men). Some of the people they normally put on the board, they put on their advisor list.
Cal Ripken Jr, is a popular Maryland figure (he used to play baseball). Generally, you pick up one of those to deal with PR nightmares - cost you about 150-300k/yr (could be substantially less or more depending on involvement). One of the other guys is local politics designed to work red tape (Sen. Mitchell), two - sloan & dominguez are affiliated with Providence, (I don't know if they show up, though if they did, they'd have influence), another is from a college (McAuliffe is from American U in DC), etc.
The company's not public, so it won't really be able to do anything massively unethical involving ripping off stockholders. If they did, they probably wouldn't get caught, they have some heavy hitters (Mitchell was a very prominent US senator) and their CEO is very, very smart, so if he's doing anything that's improper, we probably won't find out about it for at least 10 years anyway, if ever ....time enough for Elder Scrolls 5 and Fallout 4.
Please note - I'm not implying that they are currently or would do something illegal or unethical.
Post edited September 09, 2009 by cioran