Rage Tech Being Kept Inside Bethesda Family

Game developers will have to have their games published by Bethesda if
they wish to take advantage of id Software's latest high-tech game
engine id Tech 5, the same engine being used in the studio's upcoming
shooter Rage.


Id Software
Design Director Matt Hooper told IGN that one of the benefits of not
licensing the engine to external studios means their games will look
more unique than anything else on the market.


"I personally think that's a good thing. Not only from just the amount
of resources you have to spend supporting the technology, but from just
giving you an edge," said Hooper. "We're the only ones right now
exploiting the goodness of id Tech 5, and that feels good. Our game is
going to look different than other games just by default."


"It doesn't matter what we do with the technology, I guarantee it will look different than other games," he added.


Hooper noted that the company originally wanted to license their engine
out to anyone with an interest, but the acquisition by Zenimax Media
helped influence their decision.


"Our original path was actually to develop the tech to license it. We do
have still a support and tools team," he said. "When we decided to take
a lot of our IPs internal and grow teams internally, we actually are
not licensing our tech, but we have multiple teams that are utilizing
the technology.


"When we merged with Bethesda, it was some of their decision too saying
'why don't you keep some of your edge? John Carmack has done so many
things for the industry, let's keep that edge on our side and make great
games.' That's how you're successful in this business," Hooper added.


Bethesda Game Director Todd Howard explained in a separate interview
with IGN that his game would not use id Tech 5. The studio's new engine
built for its upcoming title is more beneficial to creating huge,
open-world games, such as Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,
while id Tech 5 is better for more contained environments.


"We decided to really reboot our technology after Fallout 3, so we had
been making plans for that and started doing some things. The id thing
came along later, so it's a mix of that plus the kinds of games we do
are a bit bigger and more dynamic.


"Id Tech 5 is the best thing in the world at doing a very static
environment that looks pretty and you're going to run through. But for
the kinds of things I like to do, I like the world to be more dynamic."