Now that Bethesda is officially part of Xbox, the engine behind games such as Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus may have an even bigger future.
In the roundtable presentation where Xbox boss Phil Spencer gave a little bit more detail on what this means for Bethesda games becoming Xbox exclusives, Spencer also took some time to express how excited he was for id to join the team. Beyond the studio's roots as creators of the first-person shooter genre, Spencer was excited by the possibility of them collaborating with the Xbox Game Studios developers behind Halo, Gears of War, and beyond: "it's just kind of an amazing capability."
Then he explained how not just the studio's expertise, but also its very own engine, may become an asset to all of Xbox and Microsoft: "The other thing I get really excited about with id that we haven't really talked a lot about is the future of id Tech. And what could that mean inside of Xbox? Obviously, you know, we've got a ton of studios doing a bunch of different work."
"I love the way Marty [Stratton, id studio director] talked about how they've collaborated with other Bethesda studios on id Tech, and I just think about that to the next level, like, what can we do inside of our organization with id Tech, which is one of the world's best game engines out there, and just make it a tool that so many developers can use to realize their vision."
Back in the aughts, an earlier version of id Tech powered everything from Quake to Call of Duty to Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2. Who knows where its modern counterpart could end up with Microsoft's backing?
While we wait to see what comes next, check out Fallout 4, Oblivion, Prey, and 8 more Bethesda games headed to Xbox Game Pass.
