Like some kind of boardroom Sinistar, the rapacious ZeniMax still hungers and has now swallowed up Machinegames, a Swedish studio formed by veterans of Chronicles of Riddick developer Starbreeze.
Machinegames may not have quite the same high profile as ZeniMax’s other recent acquisitions but its lineage is more than respectable. The studio was founded last year by several former members of Starbreeze Studios, including founder Magnus Hogdahl. Starbreeze counts The Darkness and the Chronicles of Riddick franchise among its creations and is currently at work on Project Redlime, which is strongly rumored to be a remake of the early 90s Bullfrog hit Syndicate.
The studio has apparently been officially re-christened as ZeniMax Sweden AB, although it will probably hang on to the Machinegames name for public consumption. What Bethesda has in minds for its latest pick-up isn’t yet known; the Machinegames website says only that the studio is “a developer of exciting AAA titles for next-gen platforms.”
Machinegames joins id Software, Arkane Studios, Shinji Mikami’s new Tango venture and of course Bethesda Softworks under the ZeniMax banner, bringing a company that until recently was virtually unknown to most gamers one step closer to becoming a true industry heavyweight.
Source: Gamasutra
