Bethesda Softworks Opens New Studio Roundhouse, Staffed By Former Human Head Team - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 13 November 2019 / 1,946 Views
Bethesda Softworks has opened a new development studio called Roundhouse Studios in Madison, Wisconsin. The studio is being staffed by the team who used to work at the now closed Human Head Studios. The studio "will immediately begin work on unannounced projects" at Bethesda.
"Sadly, we had to wind down the business of Human Head Studios and close its doors, which was particularly devastating due to the passion and creativity of the team we’d assembled," said Roundhouse Studios creative director Chris Rhinehart.
"We reached out to our friends at Bethesda for help, and they saw that same creativity and passion in our team. With the formation of Roundhouse Studios, Bethesda offered every employee of Human Head a position at the new company. We are excited our team will remain together, pursuing the work we love, as part of a company we already know and admire."
Bethesda Softworks senior vice president of development Todd Vaughn added, "While sorry to hear of their challenges as Human Head Studios, we were excited by the opportunity to bring under the Bethesda umbrella this talented, established development team. We are delighted that the entire staff will remain together and is now part of the Bethesda family."
Human Head Studios were the original developer on Prey and were working on Prey 2 before they shut down.
Thanks VG24/7.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Now that both of their live service games have crashed so spectacularly, I really hope Bethesda will get back to focusing on making the stuff people liked them for in the first place.
Elder Scrolls Online is an MMO, which is quite different fundamentally. But not only was that not made by Bethesda Game Studios - it's made by Zenimax Online - but I am also referring to Bethesda Softworks, the publisher, not just Bethesda Game Studios. The two Live Service games would be Fallout 76 and Wolfenstein Youngblood. And both of these have been pretty disastrous.
However, Fallout 76 and ESO do form interesting comparison points. Everyone lost their mind when ESO wasn't by Bethesda Game Studios because "they wouldn't get it" and would "ruin the game". And yet despite a rocky launch, the game has been groomed into one of the largest MMOs in the world because surprise surprise, hiring a team of MMO development veterans resulted in a knowledgeable MMO development team who knew what they were doing.
Meanwhile Fallout 76 generated initial hype primarily because it was made by Bethesda Game Studios, who "would get it". But in the end this blew up in their faces because surprise surprise, a developer who has spent their entire existence working on singleplayer RPGs had little idea what they were doing with a live service multiplayer only shooter.
Skyrim 76 confirmed
