Bethesda Game Studios Austin

American video game developer

ZeniMax Media (2012–2018)
Bethesda Game Studios (2018–present)

Bethesda Game Studios Austin LLC (formerly BattleCry Studios LLC) is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Founded within ZeniMax Media as BattleCry Studios in 2012, the studio initially developed BattleCry until its cancellation in 2015. After working with its sister studios Bethesda Game Studios and id Software on multiple projects, BattleCry Studios became part of Bethesda Game Studios as Bethesda Game Studios Austin in March 2018.

History

BattleCry Studios was established as a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media under the leadership of Rich Vogel as president. The establishment was announced on October 3, 2012.^[1] The studio immediately began hiring developers with experience in microtransactions and free-to-play games and had roughly 35 employees by November 2013.^[2]^[3] It announced its first project, the multiplayer combat game BattleCry, in May 2014.^[4] However, after a September 2015 report that a substantial portion of the studio's staff had been laid off, the studio ceased work on BattleCry in October to focus on different projects.^[5]^[6] Among these projects, it was tasked with modifying Creation Engine, the game engine developed and used by its sister studio Bethesda Game Studios, to support multiplayer functionality for Fallout 76. It worked in conjunction with another sister studio, id Software, and repurposed some netcode from Quake.^[7] The studio then worked with Bethesda Game Studios on the game itself and in August 2016 replaced Certain Affinity in assisting id Software to develop multiplayer components for Doom.^[8]^[9] Vogel left BattleCry Studios by September 2017 to join Certain Affinity.^[10] In March 2018, BattleCry studios became a part of Bethesda Game Studios and was renamed Bethesda Game Studios Austin. By this time, Doug Mellencamp had succeeded Vogel as studio director.^[11] Microsoft acquired ZeniMax in March 2021.^[12]^[13]

Games developed

Year	Title	Platform(s)	Notes
2016	Doom	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One	Additional work for id Software
2018	Fallout 76	PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One	Additional work for Bethesda Game Studios

Canceled

BattleCry

References

^ Sliwinski, Alexander (October 3, 2012). "Battlecry Studios is new Austin-based developer from Bethesda Softworks". Engadget. AOL Tech. Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^ Reahard, Jef (October 4, 2012). "Bethesda's new Battlecry Studios looking for F2P experts". Engadget. AOL Tech. Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^ Gaar, Brian (November 2, 2013). "Gaar: After dry spell, some Austin gaming studios staffing up". Austin American-Statesman. Archived from the original on August 14, 2023. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
^ Molina, Brett (May 28, 2014). "Bethesda unveils free-to-play game 'Battlecry'". USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^ Rosales, Lani (September 10, 2015). "BattleCry Studios lays off unknown number of staff in Austin". The American Genius. AGBeat. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^ Prescott, Shaun (October 8, 2015). "Bethesda has 'concerns' about Battlecry and is 'evaluating' it". PC Gamer. Future US. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^ Noclip (June 12, 2018). "The Making of Fallout 76 - Noclip Documentary". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
^ Schreier, Jason (May 30, 2018). "Bethesda Announces Fallout: 76". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 3, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
^ Holmes, Mike (August 6, 2016). "BattleCry devs now working with id on Doom multiplayer". Gamereactor UK. Archived from the original on March 10, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
^ Sinclair, Brendan (September 22, 2017). "Rich Vogel joins Certain Affinity". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
^ Dring, Christopher (March 9, 2018). "BattleCry Studios becomes third Bethesda Game Studios office". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on March 9, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
^ Bass, Dina; Schreier, Jason (September 21, 2020). "Microsoft to Buy Bethesda for $7.5 Billion to Boost Xbox". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
^ Robinson, Andy (March 9, 2021). "Microsoft confirms its Bethesda acquisition is complete and 'some games' will be exclusive". Video Games Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.