Bethesda Softworks, LLC  | | Type | Limited Liability Company | | Founded | 1985 | | Headquarters | Rockville, Maryland (Previously Bethesda, Maryland) | | Key people | Vlatko Andonov, President
Todd Vaughn, VP Development
Pete Hines, VP PR & Marketing
Ron Seger, VP Sales
Todd Howard, Executive Producer and Game Director
Ashley Cheng, Production Director | | Industry | Computer and video games | | Products | The Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3 | | Parent | ZeniMax Media | | Website | http://www.bethsoft.com | Bethesda Softworks, LLC, a ZeniMax Media Company, is a developer and publisher of video games. The company is based in Rockville, Maryland, in the United States. With a broad panoply of games in role-playing, racing, simulation, and sports, Bethesda Softworks' major franchises are distributed worldwide. [edit] History Bethesda Softworks has been a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content for over two decades. Founded in 1985 by Christopher Weaver in Bethesda, Maryland and moved to Rockville, Maryland in 1990, Bethesda has a long history of PC and console games. In 1998, Weaver decided to expand the company beyond PC games and into multimedia and invited Robert Altman to help manage the new company. Weaver and Altman co-founded ZeniMax Media Inc. in 1999. Bethesda is credited with the creation of the first physics-based sports simulation (Gridiron!) in 1986 for the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga and Commodore 64/128, which led to Bethesda's creation of the first Madden NFL game for Electronic Arts. Bethesda's early games scored respectably in the gaming press, earning accolades as "the most accurate and enjoyable simulation of a sport I have ever had the pleasure to play", "the best ice hockey sim yet", for Wayne Gretzky Hockey, and a note that Gridiron! "demands a look".[1] Despite a long history of development in many genres, Bethesda is perhaps best known for creating The Elder Scrolls RPG series, based upon the original programming of Julian Lefay. The first chapter of the series, entitled The Elder Scrolls: Arena, was released in 1994. Since that time, numerous other chapters have been released. The game's direct sequels, Daggerfall and Morrowind, were released in 1996 and 2002, respectively. Additionally, the game has had several spin-offs: Battlespire (1997), Redguard (1998) and The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey (2004). Since that time, numerous other chapters have been released. The latest chapter, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, was released in March 2006 and received numerous Game of the Year accolades.[2] Bethesda is also known for publishing titles based upon popular movie franchises – including The Terminator, Star Trek, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In 2004, Bethesda acquired the Fallout franchise and turned the development of Fallout 3 over to Bethesda Game Studios. Fallout 3 was released on October 28, 2008 and has won over 60 Game of the Year Awards – including honors from IGN, the Game Developers’ Choice Awards, and Game Critics Awards [3]. Bethesda has continued to support Fallout 3 with five Downloadable Content Packs – Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta. Bethesda continues to expand their publishing duties. In 2009, Bethesda plans to release WET and Rogue Warrior. In 2010, Bethesda is publishing Splash Damage’s Brink and Obsidian Entertainment’s new Fallout title, Fallout: New Vegas. On June 24, 2009, Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax Media, acquired id Software, whose titles will be published by Bethesda Softworks.[4] [edit] Divisions Bethesda Game Studios (BGS) is the in-house development team led by Todd Howard and owned by Bethesda Softworks. Not all BGS titles are published by Bethesda Softworks. "Bethesda Softworks" is often used to designate games "published" by Bethesda, both BGS projects and those developed externally. [edit] The Elder Scrolls series The Elder Scrolls Travel series, including Shadowkey, Stormhold and Dawnstar, was co-developed by sister studio Vir2L, a ZeniMax Media company. [edit] List of games by Bethesda Softworks [edit] Games developed and published by Bethesda | Year | Title | Genres | Platforms | | 1986 | Gridiron! | Sports | Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64 | | 1988 | Wayne Gretzky Hockey | Sports | Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, NES | | 1990 | Wayne Gretzky Hockey 2 | Sports | DOS | | 1990 | Terminator, The | Free-form Action, Adventure | DOS | | 1990 | Hockey League Simulator | Sports management | Amiga, DOS | | 1991 | Wayne Gretzky Hockey 3 | Sports | DOS | | 1991 | Home Alone | Action | NES | | 1991 | NCAA Basketball: Road To The Final Four ('91/'92 Edition) | Sports | DOS | | 1992 | Terminator 2029 | Action, Strategy | DOS | | 1992 | Hockey League Simulator 2 | Sports management | DOS | | 1993 | Terminator: Rampage, The | Action | DOS | | 1993 | Terminator 2029: Operation Scour Add-on | Action, Strategy | DOS | | 1993 | The Elder Scrolls: Arena | Action, Adventure, RPG | DOS | | 1994 | Terminator 2029 - The Deluxe CD Edition | Action, Strategy | DOS | | 1994 | NCAA: Road to the Final Four 2 | Sports | DOS | | 1994 | Delta V | Action, Racing | DOS | | 1995 | Terminator: Future Shock | Action | DOS | | 1996 | SkyNET | Action | DOS | | 1996 | The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall | Adventure, RPG | DOS | | 1997 | The Elder Scrolls Legends: Battlespire | Action RPG | DOS, Windows | | 1997 | PBA Bowling | Sports | Windows | | 1997 | XCar: Experimental Racing | Racing Simulation | DOS | | 1998 | Burnout: Championship Drag Racing | Racing | DOS | | 1998 | The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard | Action RPG | Windows | | 1998 | Symbiocom | Adventure | Windows | | 1998 | Zero Critical | Adventure | Windows | | 1999 | NIRA Intense Import Drag Racing | Racing | Windows | | 1999 | Skip Barber Racing | Racing | Windows | | 2000 | IHRA Drag Racing | Racing | Windows, PlayStation | | 2000 | PBA Bowling 2 | Sports | Windows | | 2000 | PBA Bowling 2001 | Sports | Windows, Dreamcast (Unreleased but gold-version leaked) | | 2000 | Sea Dogs | Adventure | Windows | | 2001 | IHRA Motorsports | Racing | Windows | | 2001 | IHRA Drag Racing 2 | Racing | PlayStation 2 | | 2001 | Echelon | Action, Simulation | Windows | | 2002 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | Adventure, RPG | Windows, Xbox | | 2002 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Collector's Edition) | Adventure, RPG | Windows | | 2002 | The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal | Adventure, RPG | Windows | | 2003 | IHRA Drag Racing 2004 | Racing | Xbox | | 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean | Adventure | Windows, Xbox | | 2003 | The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon | Adventure, RPG | Windows | | 2003 | The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon & Tribunal Duopack | Adventure, RPG | Windows | | 2003 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Game of the Year Edition) | Adventure, RPG | Windows, Xbox | | 2003 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Platinum Edition) | Adventure, RPG | Xbox | | 2004 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Game of the Year - Platinum Edition) | Adventure, RPG | Xbox | | 2004 | IHRA Drag Professional Racing 2005 | Racing | Xbox, PlayStation 2 | | 2006 | IHRA Drag Racing: Sportsman Edition | Racing | Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2 | | 2008 | Fallout 3 | Action RPG | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | [edit] Games developed by Bethesda, but externally published [edit] Games published by Bethesda The following games were published by Bethesda, but externally developed. (Note: Vir2L is a division of ZeniMax Media Inc., Bethesda's parent company, and Vir2L calls themselves a 'sister company' to Bethesda on their website.) | Year | Title | Genres | Platforms | Developer | | 1998 | F-16 Aggressor | Vehicle simulation | Windows | Virgin Interactive | | 1998 | Magic and Mayhem | Action, Strategy | Windows | Mythos Games | | 2000 | Gromada | Action | Windows | Buka Entertainment | | 2000 | Sea Dogs | Action, RPG, Simulation, Strategy | Windows | Akella | | 2001 | Magic & Mayhem: The Art of Magic | RPG, Strategy | Windows | Mythos Games | | 2002 | Family Card Games Fun Pack | Cards | PlayStation | Mud Duck Productions | | 2003 | Puzznic | Puzzle, Action | PlayStation | Altron | | 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean | RPG | Windows, Xbox | Akella | | 2003 | The Elder Scrolls Travels: Stormhold | Adventure, RPG | Java and BREW enabled mobile devices | Vir2L, co-published by MFORMA | | 2004 | Powerdrome | Racing | Xbox, PlayStation 2 | Argonaut Games, co-published by Mud Duck Productions | | 2004 | The Elder Scrolls Travels: Dawnstar | Adventure, RPG | Java and BREW enabled mobile devices | Vir2L | | 2004 | The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey | Adventure, RPG | N-Gage | Vir2L co-published by Nokia | | 2004 | IHRA Drag Racing Multiplayer | Racing | Java and BREW enabled mobile devices | Vir2L, co-published by MFORMA | | 2005, 2006 | Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth | Adventure | Xbox, Windows | Headfirst Productions | | 2006 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow | Adventure | Windows (Not Vista 64), PlayStation 2 | 7 Studios, Buena Vista Games, co-published by Ubisoft | | 2006 | Star Trek Encounters | Strategy | Playstation 2 | 4J Studios | | 2006 | Star Trek Legacy | Strategy | Windows, Xbox | Mad Doc Software | | 2006 | Star Trek: Tactical Assault | Strategy | PSP, Nintendo DS | Quicksilver Software | | 2007 | Star Trek: Conquest | Strategy | Wii, PS2 | 4J Studios | | 2008 | Bully (Publishing in Japan only)[5] | Action | PS2, Xbox 360 | Rockstar Vancouver, Rockstar New England | | 2009 | WET | Third person shooter | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | Artificial Mind and Movement | | 2009 | Rogue Warrior | FPS | PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | Rebellion Developments | | 2009 | Wheelspin (Publishing in Europe only) | Racing | Wii | Awesome Play | | 2010 | Fallout: New Vegas | RPG | PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | Obsidian Entertainment | | 2010 | Brink | FPS | PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | Splash Damage | | 2010 | Doom 4 | FPS | PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | id Software | [edit] References [edit] External links |
