Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda Softworks is a developer and publisher of computer and video games founded in 1986 by Christopher Weaver, owned by ZeniMax Media.

Background
Bethesda has been a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content for over two decades. In 2001 Bethesda Softworks became a publisher only and the newly formed Bethesda Game Studios became the developer of their games. Founded in 1986 by Christopher Weaver in Bethesda, Maryland, and moved to Rockville, Maryland in 1990, the company has a long history of PC and console games. In 1999, Christopher Weaver and Robert A. Altman founded ZeniMax Media, Inc.

The company is 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 has four direct sequels along with three spin-offs and The Elder Scrolls Travels series.

In 2004, the Fallout franchise was acquired by Bethesda Softworks from Interplay Productions and the development of Fallout 3 was handed over to Bethesda Game Studios. Fallout 3 was released on October 28, 2008. Obsidian Entertainment's title, Fallout: New Vegas was published in 2010. Fallout 4 was announced on June 4, 2015 and released on November 10, 2015. Fallout 76 was announced on May 30, 2018.

Divisions


Bethesda Game Studios (BGS) is the in-house development team led by Todd Howard and owned by Bethesda Softworks. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax Media all work in the same building.

Bethesda Game Studios was established in 2002, and became separated between publisher and developer. In the past, not all BGS titles were published by the Softworks division. However, beginning with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PlayStation 3, Bethesda Softworks began publishing all Bethesda Game Studios games. "Bethesda Softworks" is often used to designate games "published" by Bethesda, both BGS projects and those developed externally.

Fallout 3
In 2004, Bethesda licensed the rights to develop Fallout 3 and two additional sequels from Interplay Entertainment, and in 2007 acquired the whole Fallout franchise. Todd Howard said in January 2007 that "We started work (on Fallout 3) in late 2004 with a few people. We only had about 10 people on it until Oblivion wrapped, but most of our staff is on it now."

Fallout 3 was released on October 28, 2008 and won over 60 Game of the Year Awards – including honors from IGN, the Game Developers' Choice Awards and Game Critics Awards. Bethesda continued to support Fallout 3 with five add-ons – Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta.

Fallout: New Vegas
In 2009, Bethesda Softworks announced Fallout: New Vegas, a new entry in the Fallout series. It is important to note that Bethesda only published New Vegas, which was developed by Obsidian Entertainment. The US release date was October 19, 2010, and three days later it was released in the UK. On January 28, 2011, Bethesda confirmed a deal made with Namco Bandai to let them publish New Vegas in continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Bethesda also published the four Fallout: New Vegas add-ons: Dead Money, Old World Blues, Lonesome Road and Honest Hearts.

Fallout 4
In 2015, Bethesda Softworks announced the continuation of the Fallout series with Fallout 4, releasing a trailer. More information was showcased at Bethesda's E3 conference that year. Fallout 4 was released on November 10, 2015, except in Japan, where it was released on December 17.

Seven add-ons were also released by Bethesda for Fallout 4, including Automatron, Wasteland Workshop, Far Harbor, Contraptions Workshop, Vault-Tec Workshop, Nuka-World and the High Resolution Texture Pack.

Fallout 76
In 2018, Bethesda announced the next entry into the Fallout series, Fallout 76, with a teaser trailer. More information is expected to be released during Bethesda's E3 conference.

Other games
Other notable series by Bethesda Softworks include The Elder Scrolls, the series of which Morrowind is the 5th title and the 3rd main title, Oblivion the 9th title and the 4th main title and Skyrim the 10th title and 5th main title. Fallout 3 and New Vegas are based on the same engine as Oblivion.

Other Bethesda releases include WET, Rogue Warrior and RAGE. They also collaborated with id Software on Doom 3: BFG Edition, the Wolfenstein series, and the 2016 reboot of Doom.