Bethesda softworks publishes all games under the zenimax umbrella (BGS, Id, arkane studios) correct? But why doesn't it just say zenimax as the publisher? Why the need for the separation?

Also, were the past elder scrolls developed by bethesda softworks? I found this on the wiki in regards to bethesda game studios..."Previously synonymous with parent publisher Bethesda Softworks, the studio's name and logo was established with the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006."

So bethesda softworks and bethesda game studios were one in the same but they split and bgs is now a separate entity as of oblivion?

Yeah, pretty much. But it is indeed odd. Guess its the same way The Air Force and The Army are seperate, but are still under "Military". Wait, what has this got to do with the Army?

I don't know the reason for the separation between Bethesda Softworks and Zenimax. But yes, before Oblivion TES were made by Bethesda Softworks, since Oblivion They have been made by BGS. I don't think they split. I'm pretty sure it was just a rebranding of the same development studio.

Any info on why bethesda game studios split from softworks and became its own entity? Were they previously merged or did bgs not even exist and were created after morrowind/before oblivion?

It's not really a split. Bethesda Softworks had just grown so large that Bethesda Game Studios was "created" to differentiate itself from Bethesda Softworks. BGS is just Todd Howard's development team, and it's part of Bethesda Softworks.

After Oblivion Zenimax got much more involved with publishing, whether that be games from third party developers or their susidiaries like Id and Arkane. They created Bethesda Softworks as a publishing arm. The development studio that had been known as Bethesda Softworks was given the BGS name. I just don't see why they didnt use a new name for the publisher. :shrug:

Basically:

Bethesda Softworks wanted to branch out. So it created Zenimax Media to serve as a vehicle for the acquistion of new IP's and companies, (It's a shell company) and Bethesda softworks became a publishing company, while the in-house videogame development was given a seperate operation as Bethesda Game Studios. Why do all this? For Economic reasons really. The seperation of Zenimax Media, Bethesda softworks, and Bethesda Game studios allows the entity based in rockville to acquire and manage new assets and IP's, to have a dedicated publishing operation, and continue their original buisness model (making games).

Note that this was gradual, taking place over a number of years.

Nice and accurate summary.

Hardly. He left out the part where Todd slayed the dragon whose egg hatched G-Staff.

Well, that one does not quite have anything to do with the company structure, though it is of great importance to the community. :hehe:

In 1999 Bethesda Softworks became a part of Zenimax.I would guess they continue to publish the game under the Bethesda Softworks name as it's most likely the stronger brand name, as they been publishing games since the early 90s.

Even though their new companies use the Zenimax name (Zenimax Online, Zenimax Europe, Zenimax Japan, Zenimax Sweden, Zenimax Germany, Zenimax France and so on). In just a couple of years they opened world wide publishing offices around the world, after just being a US publisher for ~15 years, and getting publishing help from Ubisoft, 2K Games and so on, they are now publishing games on their own.


The past TES games were indeed developed by Bethesda Softworks. But after publishing games by other development studios for a while, they wanted to make people more aware of the differences between Bethesda Softworks the publisher and Bethesda Softworks the developer. It was a pure name change, and didn't really change the internal structure of the company in any way, as they already worked separately.