ZeniMax Media

ZeniMax Media
legal form	Incorporated
founding	1999
Seat	Rockville , Maryland
management	Robert A. Altman (Chairman and CEO ) ; James L. Leder ( EVP and COO ) ; Cindy L. Tallent ( EVP and CFO )
Website	www.zenimax.com

ZeniMax Media Inc. is a holding company and acts mainly as the parent company of the American computer game publisher Bethesda Softworks , which looks after all of the group's publications. The company is based in Rockville, Maryland . ZeniMax was founded in 1999 by Bethesda founders Christopher Weaver and Robert A. Altman to provide the struggling publisher with fresh capital. The company maintains several well-known development studios and holds the rights to the computer game series The Elder Scrolls , Fallout and Doom .

history

ZeniMax Media was founded in 1999 by Christopher Weaver and Robert A. Altman. The development studio Bethesda Softworks, which was also founded by Weaver, was in great financial difficulties at this time and needed new capital. Weaver's vision was to set up Bethesda Softworks as a hybrid media company, creating cross-media content for a variety of different platforms. Weaver brought Altman on board as CEO, who contributed his shares to Bethesda Softworks so that the new parent company (ZeniMax Media) could be funded. ZeniMax then took over Bethesda's parent company, Media Technology, also owned by Weaver. In 2002, Weaver moved to a non-operational role after the development and research division, which Weaver should have headed as Chief Technology Officer , was closed in 2001 . Weaver, who still held a 33% stake in the company, felt pushed out of the company by his business partners and brought a lawsuit against ZeniMax. The lawsuit was dropped when it became known that Weaver had used his executive director privileges to search his employees' emails.

Under ZeniMax Media, Bethesda received new financial stability, the meanwhile outsourced development department Bethesda Game Studios successfully published The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006 . In 2004, ZeniMax Media also acquired the Fallout franchise from Interplay Entertainment . Fallout 3 , also developed by Bethesda Game Studios, was released in October 2008. Bethesda is also the publisher of three new Star Trek games, Star Trek: Legacy ( PC / Xbox 360 ), Star Trek: Tactical Assault ( Nintendo DS / PlayStation Portable ), and Star Trek: Encounters ( PlayStation 2 ).

In 2007 it was announced that the venture capitalist Providence Equity Partners was investing again in ZeniMax Media. This means that 9% of ZeniMax Media belongs to ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG.

On June 24, 2009 it was announced that ZeniMax Media had acquired the independent game developer id Software and that future id games would be published through Bethesda. In September 2009, ZeniMax Media acquired the rights to the Prey franchise. In December 2009, ZeniMax Media acquired the publishing rights to the id software game Rage , which was originally to be published by Electronic Arts .

On August 12, 2010, ZeniMax Media acquired the independent studio Arkane Studios .

On March 3, 2011, ZeniMax Media announced a partnership with the USC School of Cinematic Arts (University of Southern California) to support their interactive media department with an educational program of guest lectures and internships.

On December 19, 2015, the Galway office in Ireland was closed. The local customer support was completely discontinued.

Shareholder structure

The company ZeniMax is made up of a variety of investors , together mostly from the media industry. The shareholders include the German ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG , CBS and the risk capital provider Providence Equity Partners , which has repeatedly appeared as a financial provider in the past. Accordingly, ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG now owns around 9 percent of the shares in ZeniMax Media. Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Robert S. Trump , brother of US President Donald Trump , have been on the supervisory board for some time .

Development studios

The following video game developer studios and brands are owned by ZeniMax Media:

Arkane Studios , acquired in 2010
Battlecry Studios
Bethesda Game Studios in Rockville, Maryland , founded in 1986, acquired in 1999
id Software in Dallas (Texas) , founded in 1991, acquired in 2009
Machine Games Sweden
Tango Gameworks
ZeniMax Online Studios ( MMOG developer)