Company:Bethesda Game Studios
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| Type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Rockville, Maryland , US |
Key people |
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| Products |
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Number of employees | >450 (2023) |
| Parent | Bethesda Softworks |
| Website | bethesdagamestudios |
Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. It is best known for its action role-playing franchises, including The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield. Bethesda Game Studios was established in 2001 as the development unit of Bethesda Softworks, separating from publishing operations. Todd Howard serves as the studio's executive producer, leading it with managing director Ashley Cheng and studio director Angela Browder. As of November 2023, Bethesda Game Studios had 450 employees.[1]
History
Bethesda Game Studios was established in 2001. Previously, Bethesda Softworks, then a developer and publisher, had been reorganized as a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. ZeniMax's Robert A. Altman sought to grow the development unit, which was spun off from Bethesda Softworks as Bethesda Game Studios, starting out with roughly 40 people.[2] [3]
By 2008, Bethesda Game Studios was considered one of the industry’s top developers on the reputation of The Elder Scrolls fantasy universe and the critically acclaimed Fallout 3. Bethesda had created a unique role for itself, “spending years to create massive, open-world, single-player RPGs — hardly a booming genre in the industry at large — to great success, bringing a once-niche PC genre to a broad multiplatform audience,” wrote Gamasutra in their year-end best-of list.[4]
In December 2015, Bethesda Game Studios opened a satellite studio in Montreal under the leadership of Yves Lachance, the former head of Behaviour Interactive.[5] In 2018, two ZeniMaxi-owned studios became part of Bethesda Game Studios: BattleCry Studios was renamed Bethesda Game Studios Austin in March, and Escalation Studios was turned into Bethesda Game Studios Dallas in August.[6][7] Microsoft acquired ZeniMax in March 2021.[8][9]
Technology
Satellite studios
- Bethesda Game Studios Montreal in Montreal , Canada; founded in December 2015.
- Bethesda Game Studios Austin in Austin, Texas , US; founded as BattleCry Studios, a subsidiary of ZeniMax, in October 2012, and organized as part of Bethesda Game Studios in March 2018.
- Bethesda Game Studios Dallas in Dallas, Texas, US; founded as Escalation Studios in 2007, acquired by ZeniMax in February 2017, and organized as part of Bethesda Game Studios in August 2018.
Games developed
Bethesda Game Studios has principally been involved in the development of role-playing video games with their The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series for consoles and personal computers, most of which have been commercially and critically successful.[10][11]
In 2015, the studio entered into the mobile gaming market with Fallout Shelter based on the same franchise, which gained 50 million players by mid-2016. In February 2017, Howard said that they are in development of another mobile title following onto the success of Fallout Shelter.[12] This was revealed in 2018 to be The Elder Scrolls.
In 2016, Howard confirmed that while they are developing The Elder Scrolls VI, it was still a long way to the game's release. Meanwhile, two other significant projects are in development which are expected to be released prior to The Elder Scrolls VI.[13] On May 30, 2018, Fallout 76 was announced.[14] On June 10, 2018, during Bethesda's E3 2018 conference, the other project in development was revealed to be the company's first new intellectual property in 25 years, Starfield. During the 2021 Xbox/Bethesda Games Showcase, Starfield was announced to be releasing exclusively for PC and Xbox Series X/S. Starfield released in September 6, 2023.[15][16] On June 14, 2022, Howard confirmed that Fallout 5 would start development after the completion of The Elder Scrolls VI, with the latter currently in the pre-production phase of development.[17]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | The Elder Scrolls III | Windows, Xbox |
| 2004 | IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005 | PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| 2006 | IHRA Drag Racing | PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox |
| The Elder Scrolls IV | PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360 | |
| 2008 | Fallout 3 | |
| 2011 | The Elder Scrolls V | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| 2015 | Fallout Shelter | Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One |
| Fallout 4 | PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One | |
| 2016 | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| 2017 | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR | PlayStation 4, Windows |
| Fallout 4 VR | Windows | |
| 2018 | Fallout 76 | PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One |
| 2020 | The Elder Scrolls | Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch[18] |
| 2023 | The Elder Scrolls: Castles | Android[19] |
| Starfield | Windows, Xbox Series X/S | |
| TBA | The Elder Scrolls VI | TBA |
Expansion packs
| Year | Title | Game | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Tribunal | The Elder Scrolls III | Windows, Xbox |
| 2003 | Bloodmoon | ||
| 2006 | Knights of the Nine | The Elder Scrolls IV | PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360 |
| 2007 | Shivering Isles | ||
| 2009 | Operation: Anchorage | Fallout 3 | |
| The Pitt | |||
| Broken Steel | |||
| Point Lookout | |||
| Mothership Zeta | |||
| 2012 | Dawnguard | The Elder Scrolls V | |
| Hearthfire | |||
| Dragonborn | |||
| 2016 | Automatron | Fallout 4 | PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One |
| Wasteland Workshop | |||
| Far Harbor | |||
| Contraptions Workshop | |||
| Vault-Tec Workshop | |||
| Nuka-World | |||
| 2020 | The Pitt[20] | Fallout 76 | |
| Steel Reign[21] | |||
| Steel Dawn[22] | |||
| Wastelanders[23] | |||
| TBA | Shattered Space | Starfield | Windows, Xbox Series X/S |
Awards
- Gamasutra's Best of 2008 — Top Five Developer[4]
- 2011 Spike Video Game Awards — Studio of the Year[24]
- 2015 The Game Awards — Developer of the Year (nominated)[25]
References
- ↑ "Todd Howard Breaks Down His Video Game Career". November 15, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRqU_7E2T9U. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
- ↑ "Bethesda Joins Xbox – Roundtable". March 11, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJneU_qBMPM. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
- ↑ "The History of Bethesda Game Studios - Elder Scrolls / Fallout Documentary". June 5, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKn9yiLVlMM.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Carless, Simon; Remo, Chris; Nutt, Christian; Alexander, Leigh; Eric, Caoili (December 31, 2008). "Gamasutra's Best Of 2008". Gamasutra. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132286/gamasutras_best_of_2008.php?page=10.
- ↑ Kato, Matthew (December 9, 2015). "Bethesda Opens New Studio In Montreal". Game Informer. http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/12/09/bethesda-opens-new-studio-in-montreal.aspx. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ↑ Dring, Christopher (March 9, 2018). "BattleCry Studios becomes third Bethesda Game Studios office". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-03-09-battlecry-studios-becomes-third-bethesda-game-studios-office.
- ↑ Fogel, Stefanie (August 10, 2018). "Escalation Studios Is Now Bethesda Game Studios Dallas". https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/bethesda-game-studios-dallas-announcement-1202901832/.
- ↑ Bass, Dina; Schreier, Jason (September 21, 2020). "Microsoft to Buy Bethesda for $7.5 Billion to Boost Xbox". https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-21/microsoft-to-buy-bethesda-studios-for-7-5-billion-to-boost-xbox.
- ↑ Robinson, Andy (March 9, 2021). "Microsoft confirms its Bethesda acquisition is complete and 'some games' will be exclusive". https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-confirms-its-bethesda-acquisition-is-complete-and-some-games-will-be-exclusive/.
- ↑ Petty, Jared (June 14, 2016). "Bethesda Says Two Upcoming Games Are as Big as Skyrim and Fallout". http://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/06/15/bethesda-says-two-upcoming-games-are-as-big-as-skyrim-and-fallout.
- ↑ Davidson, John (February 18, 2017). "Bethesda's Todd Howard Hints at 3 New Games". http://www.glixel.com/news/bethesdas-todd-howard-hints-at-3-new-games-w467778.
- ↑ Makuch, Eddie (February 17, 2017). "Skyrim Director Teases Next Mobile Game". http://www.gamespot.com/articles/skyrim-director-teases-next-mobile-game/1100-6447976/.
- ↑ Chalk, Andy (June 14, 2016). "The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development, Todd Howard confirms". https://www.pcgamer.com/the-elder-scrolls-6-is-in-development-todd-howard-confirms/.
- ↑ Schreier, Jason (May 30, 2018). "Bethesda Announces Fallout: 76". https://kotaku.com/bethesda-announces-fallout-76-1826417383.
- ↑ Makuch, Eddie (June 13, 2021). "Starfield Release Date Set For November 11, 2022 As Exclusive To Xbox And PC". https://www.gamespot.com/articles/starfield-release-date-set-for-november-11-2022-as-exclusive-to-xbox-and-pc/1100-6492795/.
- ↑ Stanton, Rich (May 12, 2022). "Of course Starfield is delayed—what did you expect?". https://www.pcgamer.com/of-course-starfield-is-delayedwhat-did-you-expect/.
- ↑ Skrebels, Joe (2022-06-14). "Todd Howard Confirms Fallout 5 Is Coming After Elder Scrolls 6" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/todd-howard-bethesda-fallout-5-elder-scrolls-6-starfield.
- ↑ Fenlon, Wes (June 11, 2018). "The Elder Scrolls: Blades is a free-to-play RPG coming to PC and mobile this fall". PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/the-elder-scrolls-blades-is-a-free-to-play-rpg-coming-to-pc-and-mobile-this-fall/.
- ↑ Ivan, Tom (September 29, 2023). "Bethesda has surprise launched The Elder Scrolls: Castles". Archived from the original on September 29, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230929140807/https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/bethesda-has-surprise-launched-the-elder-scrolls-castles/. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
- ↑ "The Pitt". https://fallout.bethesda.net/en/thepitt.
- ↑ "Steel Reign". https://fallout.bethesda.net/en/steelreign.
- ↑ "Steel Dawn". https://fallout.bethesda.net/en/steeldawn.
- ↑ "Wastelanders". https://fallout.bethesda.net/en/wastelanders.
- ↑ "SpikeTV Video Game Awards 2011". http://www.spike.com/press/2011/12/10/spike-tv-announces-2011-%E2%80%9Cvideo-game-awards%E2%80%9D-winners/.
- ↑ "Nominees | The Game Awards 2015". Ola Balola. November 12, 2015. http://thegameawards.com/nominees/.
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