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Zenimax (Bethesda) Receives Equity Funding - What Should they Spend it on?
Post by Steve Farrelly @ 05:50pm 07/10/10 | 25 Comments
Bethesda revealed today that their parent company, Zenimax Media, received a whopping (and clearly helpful) US$150 million dollar investment for the growth of their gaming portion, ie, Bethesda, from "Providence Equity Partners, a leading private equity firm, in convertible preferred stock of the Company".
The proceeds will be used to fund additional growth through increased game development, expanded publishing operations, and strategic acquisitions. The new investment by Providence supplements an earlier investment of $300 Million made by the firm in October 2007.
So what should they spend it on? They've been busy with acquisitions of late, id and Arkane Studios chief among them. More acquisitions? Expanded internal development (a new Elder Scrolls game engine wouldn't go astray)? New IP? It's certainly a lot of money, but seemingly well-deserved as their portfolio definitely continues to expand in the right direction.


bethesdazenimaxidelder scrolls





Latest Comments
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neffo
Posted 06:21pm 07/10/10
Empower each of its subsidiaries to refocus on achieving short-term and long-term deliverables.
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Crakaveli
Posted 06:33pm 07/10/10
Hopefully a new TES is running on a new engine. Something that makes people look human would be good.
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infi
Posted 06:41pm 07/10/10
More Fallout!!
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Nerfington
Posted 06:45pm 07/10/10
Personally I think their recent success has only been carried by how loved morrowind was.

I was so excited for oblivion and it pretty much fell flat. Wasn't able to get into fallout 3 either, felt way too american family-friendly cutesy for a fallout game.
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Khel
Posted 06:48pm 07/10/10
Fallout always had the overly patriotic, happy 50's american family vibe going through it, thats part of its hook. I dunno which games you've been playing...
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Nerfington
Posted 06:50pm 07/10/10
I always felt it was a sarcastic take on it.. The original world was just so... post nuclear war cruel and miserable wasteland . Got the opposite feel in the new one, felt too token and the damn smiling npcs in the towns did me in. :P
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DarthGuybrush
Posted 07:16pm 07/10/10
Definately more Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3. Nice to see what Rage and Brink do too. Zenimax/Bethesda is their parent company too. Also maybe a KOTOR title in the Oblivion (or better) engine....
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taggs
Posted 07:33pm 07/10/10
technically speaking convertible preferred shares aren't really equity - they are a hybrid security. they provide a fixed rate of return like a debt security with the option to convert to ordinary equity at a future point in time.

your title is a bit misleading, steve :D
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Esotericthief
Posted 07:47pm 07/10/10
Fallout 3 was a great game although I'm over the Fallout bit for now. I was hoping that a new Elder Scrolls would come about before another Fallout would. I do wonder why they went with another Fallout before a new Elders Scrolls.

Elder Scrolls Oblivion felt way more epic then Fallout 3 ever did. I'm hoping that they invest in a new engine for a new Elder Scrolls.
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neffo
Posted 07:50pm 07/10/10
Fallout 3 was a great game although I'm over the Fallout bit for now. I was hoping that a new Elder Scrolls would come about before another Fallout would. I do wonder why they went with another Fallout before a new Elders Scrolls.


Because it sold more copies.
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DarthGuybrush
Posted 08:08pm 07/10/10
ESIV: Oblivion sold nicely considering it was a launch title for a brand new console and not 3+ years later when F3 came along.
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WetWired
Posted 08:40pm 07/10/10
give to me and i'll make them an awesome game
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skythra
Posted 09:17pm 07/10/10
Pretty sure they should spend it on booze and hookers. Generally a pretty good way to enjoy life from what i've heard?
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Dazhel
Posted 09:29pm 07/10/10
I think Zenimax & Bethesda should put the entire figure into the "Reducing the Australian Steam Price of Fallout New Vegas to Parity with the United States" fund.
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SwissCM
Posted 10:14pm 07/10/10
Wasn't able to get into fallout 3 either, felt way too american family-friendly cutesy for a fallout game.

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Basket
Posted 10:59pm 07/10/10
liked fallout, though i had played 1-2 previously and loved them both before fallout3, didn't like oblivion, looking forward to vegas ammd..... the mmo :D
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Crakaveli
Posted 11:59pm 07/10/10
Definately more Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3. Nice to see what Rage and Brink do too. Zenimax/Bethesda is their parent company too. Also maybe a KOTOR title in the Oblivion (or better) engine....
Don't see how they could do another KOTOR considering the IP is owned by bioware.
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Nerfington
Posted 01:05am 08/10/10
The atmosphere of the characters SwissCM... Not the combat, barely saw any of it because I couldn't stand the atmosphere (both in and out of the vault).

edit: I only played fallout 1 & 2 two or three years before fallout 3, and played through 1 again at some point. Really miss this... feeling? Just didn't feel it all in fallout 3.

Sort of how the feeling of morrowind's colonial madness was so absent in the pleasant standard fantasy world of oblivion.

Anyway, maybe I'm wrong, and people will keep buying their games. The Elder Scrolls is a pretty strong franchise now, but I think it's Morrowind and the hype for Oblivion that did it, not their latest work, and was just picking at the final line in the OP.
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Phooks
Posted 01:57am 08/10/10
hated fallout, loved TES.

a new Elder Scrolls game engine wouldn't go astray


god yes
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Esotericthief
Posted 04:56am 08/10/10
I know where your coming from there Nerfington. I've had the same problem with sequels to my favorite titles before.

You should just try to play them as stand alone titles or 'spiritual successors'. That way your not disappointed in the future. I understand though if you can't shake the feeling that they don't fit right.
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DarthGuybrush
Posted 05:59am 08/10/10
Well the Fallout IP was owned by Interplay... and BioWare allowed Obsidian to do KOTOR 2 so you never know.
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demon
Posted 10:24am 08/10/10
moar eldar scrolls plz. :D
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Nerfington
Posted 04:59pm 08/10/10
I know where your coming from there Nerfington. I've had the same problem with sequels to my favorite titles before.

You should just try to play them as stand alone titles or 'spiritual successors'. That way your not disappointed in the future. I understand though if you can't shake the feeling that they don't fit right.

Yeah I've ended up being able to do that for a few. Tried Fallout 3 again (third time through the vault) and was maybe close to enjoying it when I hit a bug that wouldn't let me progress and got dragon age instead.
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paveway
Posted 05:10pm 08/10/10
heh bought oblivion a while ago for the ps3

fired it up played it for about 2 minutes, it looked like games i used to play on the sega megadrive and took it back to EB
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Bah
Posted 05:12pm 08/10/10
You must have had an awesome megadrive.
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