ZeniMax Acquires Rage from Electronic Arts

ZeniMax Media has announced that id Software's upcoming shooter Rage will be published by Bethesda Softworks and not Electronic Arts as had originally been planned.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be shocked or surprised by this announcement, but the truth is that I'm about as unshocked and unsurprised as I could possibly be. As an independent studio id was free to work with whatever publisher it wanted, but the moment it was acquired by ZeniMax, which also happens to own Bethesda Softworks, everything changed.

"ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of id Software, announced today that it has picked up the publishing rights for Rage, the video game under development at id Software," the company said in a brief press release. "Rage will be published by Bethesda Softworks, another ZeniMax subsidiary. As a result, Electronic Arts Inc. will not be involved in the sales and marketing of Rage."

Specifics of the deal, such as how much ZeniMax paid to get the publishing rights away from EA, weren't mentioned, but the company did add that the development of Rage would not be affected by the change. Rage is currently in development for the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Mac, but no release date has been set.