holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

Bethesda Game Studios Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was established in 2001 as the spin-off of Bethesda Softworks' development unit, with Bethesda Softworks itself re ...

The Elder Scrolls ''The Elder Scrolls'' is a series of Action role-playing game, action role-playing video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series focuses on Nonlinear gameplay, free-form gameplay in an ...

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...

Arkane Studios Arkane Studios SASU is a French video game developer based in Lyon. It was founded in 1999, and released its first game, ''Arx Fatalis'', in 2002. Besides the Lyon studio, Arkane Lyon, Arkane Studios operates Arkane Studios LLC ( trading as Ark ...

Dishonored ''Dishonored'' is a 2012 action-adventure game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Set in the fictional, plague-ridden industrial city of Dunwall, ''Dishonored'' follows the story of Corvo Attano, bodyguard to th ...

Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

MachineGames MachineGames Sweden AB is a Swedish video game developer based in Uppsala. The studio was founded in 2009 by seven former employees of Starbreeze Studios, including founder Magnus Högdahl. After unsuccessfully pitching game ideas to several ...

The Evil Within ''The Evil Within'' is a survival horror video game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game was directed by ''Resident Evil'' series creator Shinji Mikami and was released worldwide in October 2014 for PlayStat ...

The Elder Scrolls Online ''The Elder Scrolls Online'', abbreviated ''ESO'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by ZeniMax Online Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released for Windows and OS X in April 2014. It is a ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words In 2000, SBS Broadcasting acquired a 12.5% stake as part of the partnership between the two companies. Its chairman and CEO, Harry Sloan, became a ZeniMax board member a year prior to that. Sloan is a founding investor and board member of the company. Other original board members included

Les Moonves Leslie Roy Moonves (; born October 6, 1949) is an American media executive who was the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation from 2003 until his resignation in September 2018 following numerous allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault and ...

as well as the now-deceased Robert Trump. The year 2000 also saw

Terry McAuliffe Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 ...

, George Mitchell,

Dean Devlin Dean Devlin (born August 27, 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and actor of film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with director Roland Emmerich, and for his work on the The Librarian (franchise), ''Li ...

and

Jon Feltheimer Jon Feltheimer (born September 2, 1951) is the Chief Executive Officer of Lions Gate Entertainment and has held that position since 2000. Feltheimer has led Lionsgate to grow into the leading Canadian independent filmed entertainment studio. Bi ...

join ZeniMax as company advisors. In 2004, ZeniMax acquired the ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

'' franchise from

Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca ...

. Bethesda's Todd Howard said in January 2007 that "We started work on ''

Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...

'' in late 2004 with a few people. We only had about 10 people on it until '' Oblivion'' wrapped (...)". ''Fallout 3'' was released in October 2008. On August 1, 2007, ZeniMax announced the creation of ZeniMax Online Studios, a division headed by

Matt Firor Matt Firor is a video game producer and designer of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). He is best known for his involvement in games such as ''Dark Age of Camelot'' and ''The Elder Scrolls Online''. Biography Matt Firor's f ...

. In 2012, the company announced that it was developing ''

The Elder Scrolls Online ''The Elder Scrolls Online'', abbreviated ''ESO'', is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by ZeniMax Online Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released for Windows and OS X in April 2014. It is a ...

'', ultimately releasing it on April 4, 2014. On October 30, 2007, ZeniMax announced that the European broadcasting group

ProSiebenSat.1 Media ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (officially abbreviated as P7S1, formerly ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG) is a German mass media & digital company. It operates in three segments: Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Ventures. The company is listed on the Fran ...

was intensifying its relationship with ZeniMax. It launched SevenGames.com, the international version of its German game platform, in December and work with ZeniMax to develop online games. ProSiebenSat.1 Media held a 9% stake in ZeniMax at the time through

SBS Broadcasting SBS Broadcasting Group (SBS), formerly Scandinavian Broadcasting Systems, was a European multinational media group, operating commercial television, premium pay channels, radio stations and related print businesses in Northern, Western and Cen ...

, which it acquired the same year. SBS Broadcasting previously acquired a 12.5% stake in ZeniMax in October 2000 as part of the partnership between the two companies at the time. This included ZeniMax's e-Nexus Studios subsidiary, developing European entertainment portals and web sites for SBS, as well as other stock purchase agreements between SBS and ZeniMax. As of 2007, Weaver held a 33% stake in the company. In 2007, it was valued at $1.2 billion, when it raised $300 million from Providence Equity Partners in exchange for a 25% stake. As of 2020, Weaver owned 'a pittance of the stock'.

2007–2017: Expansion and Oculus lawsuit

By October 2007, ZeniMax employee count rose to 200 employees. In September 2009, ZeniMax acquired rights to the ''

Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

'' video game franchise. In December 2009, ZeniMax acquired publishing rights to the id Software game '' Rage'' from

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

. In 2010, Providence invested another $150 million for an undisclosed stake. In May 2016, it was valued at $2.5 billion. By January 2011, ZeniMax employed 400 people in its Rockville headquarters. On March 3, 2011, ZeniMax announced a partnership with the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

School of Cinematic Arts to support its Interactive Media Division with a comprehensive educational program of guest lectures and internships. In May 2014, ZeniMax sent a letter to

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

and

Oculus VR Reality Labs is a business of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook Inc.) that produces virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets such as Quest, and online platforms such as Horizon ...

asserting that any contributions that John Carmack made to the

Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Meta Platforms, released on March 28, 2016. In 2012 Oculus initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Rift's development, af ...

project are the intellectual property of ZeniMax, stating that "ZeniMax provided necessary VR technology and other valuable assistance to Palmer Luckey and other Oculus employees in 2012 and 2013 to make the Oculus Rift a viable VR product, superior to other VR market offerings." On May 21, 2014, ZeniMax filed a lawsuit against Oculus. On June 25, 2014, Oculus filed an official response to the lawsuit. Oculus claimed ZeniMax was falsely claiming ownership to take advantage of the acquisition by Facebook. Oculus also claimed that the Oculus Rift did not share a single line of code or any technology with ZeniMax's code and technology. In August 2016, ProSiebenSat.1 Media sold its stake in ZeniMax for 30 million euros. On February 1, 2017, a

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

jury awarded ZeniMax $500 million in their lawsuit against Oculus. The jury found that Oculus did not misappropriate ZeniMax trade secrets, but had violated ZeniMax's copyrights and trademarks in addition to violating a non-disclosure agreement.

2020–present: Microsoft subsidiary

On September 21, 2020,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

announced they entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media and all its subsidiaries for $7.5 billion. The deal promised to return more than six times Providence Equity's investment in the company. Altman considered selling ZeniMax for several years and at one point was close to a deal with rival

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

. Altman died on February 3, 2021, aged 73 at a hospital in Baltimore. By February 2021, Microsoft had created a subsidiary known as Vault that would be merged into ZeniMax as part of the acquisition. A notice of effectiveness in regard to Microsoft's takeover was filed with the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

on March 5, followed by the EU antitrust regulator's green light on March 8.

Providence Equity Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. is a specialist private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, education, technology investments across North America and Europe. The firm specializes in growth-oriented private equity investme ...

, which had previously owned 25% of ZeniMax's shares, sold its shares around this time. A preliminary injunction to block the acquisition was being sought in a class-action lawsuit that ZeniMax faced over ''

Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for PlayStation 4, ...

'', with the plaintiffs in the case arguing that Microsoft could shield ZeniMax's assets from damages should they be found liable after the acquisition. Microsoft announced that the acquisition was complete on March 9 and that ZeniMax had become part of the

Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

group. The total price of the deal was $8.1 billion. As a result of the acquisition, future games from ZeniMax and its studios will be exclusive to platforms supported by

Xbox Game Pass Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are video game subscription services from Microsoft. Both services grant users access to a rotating catalog of games from a range of publishers and other premium services, including Xbox Live Gold and EA Play, fo ...

, although Microsoft will allow studios to complete all contractual obligations to releases on other platforms. The ZeniMax Board of Directors was dissolved following the Microsoft purchase.

Subsidiaries

* Alpha Dog Games in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

, Canada; founded in 2012, acquired in October 2019. *

Arkane Studios Arkane Studios SASU is a French video game developer based in Lyon. It was founded in 1999, and released its first game, ''Arx Fatalis'', in 2002. Besides the Lyon studio, Arkane Lyon, Arkane Studios operates Arkane Studios LLC ( trading as Ark ...

in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, France; acquired in August 2010. ** Arkane Studios Austin in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, US; acquired in August 2010. * Bethesda Softworks in Rockville, Maryland, US; acquired in 1999. **

Bethesda Game Studios Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was established in 2001 as the spin-off of Bethesda Softworks' development unit, with Bethesda Softworks itself re ...

in Rockville, Maryland, US; established in 2001. *** Bethesda Game Studios Austin in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, US; founded in October 2012 as BattleCry Studios, re-branded in March 2018. *** Bethesda Game Studios Dallas in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, US; founded in 2007 as Escalation Studios, acquired in February 2017, re-branded in August 2018. *** Bethesda Game Studios Montreal in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Canada; established in December 2015. *

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

in

Richardson, Texas Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 119,469. Richardson is an inner suburb of the city of Dallas. It is home to the University ...

, US; acquired in June 2009. ** id Software Frankfurt in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, Germany; founded in 2015. *

MachineGames MachineGames Sweden AB is a Swedish video game developer based in Uppsala. The studio was founded in 2009 by seven former employees of Starbreeze Studios, including founder Magnus Högdahl. After unsuccessfully pitching game ideas to several ...

in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

, Sweden; acquired in November 2010. * Roundhouse Studios in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, US; founded in November 2019. * Tango Gameworks in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan; acquired in October 2010. * ZeniMax Online Studios in

Hunt Valley, Maryland Hunt Valley is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, near the site of the Maryland Hunt Cup Steeplechase. It lies just north of the city of Baltimore, along York Road (Maryland Route 45), parallel to Interstat ...

, US; founded in 2007.

Defunct

* e-Nexus Studios (later renamed ZeniMax Productions) in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

; founded in August 1999, headed by former ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' co-creator

Sam Simon Samuel Michael Simon (June 6, 1955 – March 8, 2015) was an American director, producer, writer, animal rights activist and philanthropist, who co-developed the television series ''The Simpsons''. While at Stanford University, Simon w ...

. * Mediatech West in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. Europea ...

; founded by

Brent Erickson Brent Erickson is an American computer and video game developer. Career Erickson has been programming computer games since he was 12. At the age of 13 he produced/published a text-based adventure game called "Trek For Riches" for the TRS-80. In ...

in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in 1992 as

Flashpoint Productions Flashpoint Productions later known as MediaTech West (also known as Bethesda West) was a video game developer based in Olympia, Washington. History Founded by Brent Erickson in Utah in 1992. In July 1994, the company moved from Utah to Lacey and ...

and sold to Media Technology/Bethesda Softworks in 1995. Also referred to as Bethesda West. * Mud Duck Productions; founded in 2002, closed in 2007. * Vir2L Studios in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

; acquired in 1999, closed in 2010. * XL Translab in Washington, D.C.; acquired in 1997 by and moved to Bethesda Softworks. * Visionary Design Technologies

References

External links

* {{Xbox Game Studios 1999 establishments in Maryland 2021 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1999 Companies based in Rockville, Maryland Holding companies established in 1999 Holding companies of the United States Microsoft acquisitions Microsoft subsidiaries Video game companies established in 1999 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Video game publishers Xbox Game Studios