One of the world's most renowned independent developers is independent no longer. Zenimax Media - parent company of Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls developer/publisher Bethesda Softworks - announced today that they have acquired id Software, famed creators of the Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein franchises who are currently hard at work on RAGE and Doom 4.

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, commented on the transaction: “This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles. In addition, we will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans.”

id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.

“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director. “We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them. We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am."

The acquisition will mean that all future id Software titles are published by Bethesda, with the exception of RAGE which is already signed with EA Partners.

The extra financial support also means that we're likely to see id Software's operations expand to cover simultaneous development on more of their franchises and new IP, rather than outsourcing them to other studios like we've seen with Quake 4 and more recently Wolfenstein.

Let's just hope this doesn't turn out like the time EA acquired Pandemic.