Escalation Studios is now Bethesda Game Studios Dallas

[vestan]

Just announced at QuakeCon. They're working on Fallout 76, Elder Scrolls Blades and Starfield.

https://bethesda.net/en/article/5S3...a-game-studios-expands-with-new-dallas-office

"We've been working with Tom, Marc, and the team at Escalation for a long time. They've already delivered amazing games with us, and we knew we could do even bigger things together," said Todd Howard, Game Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios. "It's an incredible team in Dallas and they're already contributing to key parts of Fallout 76 and Starfield."

Escalation was founded in 2007 by industry veterans Marc Tardif and Tom Mustaine, and acquired by ZeniMax in 2016. The studio has already contributed critical development work on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR, Fallout 4 VR, and Fallout Shelter on Nintendo Switch as well as on DOOM (2016).

"We were honored to join the ZeniMax family in 2016 and the team is humbled to now join Bethesda Game Studios," said Marc Tardif. "We're thrilled to share in the studio's passion and commitment to bringing new and ambitious experiences to some of the industry's most iconic franchises."

"This is an exciting time for everyone at the studio," said Tom Mustaine. "We feel a profound sense of pride and excitement to work on the most anticipated games in the industry, and we can't wait for fans to see what we've been working on."

Bethesda Game Studios is currently hiring for its Maryland, Montreal, Austin, and Dallas locations. For more information about available jobs, visit

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Great pickup on Bethesda's end.

 

[MattyG]

Wow. Maybe these games are gonna hit quicker than we think, sounds like it's all hands on deck (and then some) for BGS.

 

[CountAntonio]

Man they got some talent on 76. Please be good.

 

[uncleniccius]

Really hoping this doesn't lead to a decline in quality - the increase in number of studios forming part of BGS has increased rapidly and I hope it isn't too quick.

Edit: from 1 -> 4 in 2.5 years, with two being added in the space of four months.

 

[Camonna Tong]

Glad to see that they're growing even more. Before including Escalation, they were around 250 - 280. However, I would say only 150 - 200 of those were full-time BGS SP developers. I really hope by at least TES VI they are 300+ SP developers. They really need to grow. Not too big of course, but 300+ is really needed for the games they want to make when studios like CDPR are 400+ and growing for Cyberpunk alone.

With this many developers, I can expect massive engine work as well. I'm really excited to see what Starfield and TES VI brings us.

Really hoping this doesn't lead to a decline in quality - the increase in number of studios forming part of BGS has increased rapidly and I hope it isn't too quick.

Edit: from 1 -> 4 in 2.5 years, with two being added in the space of four months.

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They're bringing in studios they've worked with for a couple of years. It's much easier bringing in a massive amount of talent that way than a huge hiring spree which is something they have been avoiding more than other studios. Not saying they haven't been hiring a lot, but compared to other studios like CDPR it's not even close.

 

[uncleniccius]

Glad to see that they're growing even more. Before including Escalation, they were around 250 - 280. However, I would say only 150 - 200 of those were full-time BGS SP developers. I really hope by at least TES VI they are 300+ SP developers. They really need to grow. Not too big of course, but 300+ is really needed for the games they want to make when studios like CDPR are 400+ and growing for Cyberpunk alone.

With this many developers, I can expect massive engine work as well. I'm really excited to see what Starfield and TES VI brings us.

They're bringing in studios they've worked with for a couple of years. It's much easier bringing in a massive amount of talent that way than a huge hiring spree which is something they have been avoiding more than other studios. Not saying they haven't been hiring a lot, but compared to other studios like CDPR it's not even close.

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https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/04/...e-better-when-you-dont-play-it-safe/view-all/


This suggests it was 400 or so after the third studio, so based on numbers from last year we're looking at 450ish now when adding Escalation.

Your point on working with them before is true, just strange seeing them expanding after not doing it for so long.

 

[Fisty]

Hopefully this means more VR games and ports in the future

 

[Banderdash]

People getting ready for next gen.

 

[Hero of Legend]

They also worked on Samba de Amigo Wii alongside Gearbox.

 

[708]

I think they're STILL a lot smaller than CDPR (and Bioware?)
Glad to see that they're expanding. Hopefully they'll become bigger because I think they're too small when you look at the scope (and now the number) of their projects. They have two AAA games in full production, one in pre-production, and at least one big mobile game. They probably have a mobile tie-in for Starfield as well. Not to mention other projects like VR games and such.

 

[Camonna Tong]

https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/04/...e-better-when-you-dont-play-it-safe/view-all/


This suggests it was 400 or so after the third studio, so based on numbers from last year we're looking at 450ish now when adding Escalation.

Your point on working with them before is true, just strange seeing them expanding after not doing it for so long.

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I don't see where it says 400, but Todd said around February there's around 300 developers working full-time on their projects and that includes Escalation and other Bethesda studios like Id.

Last February (2017) they were around 180 according to Todd, had probably around 20 - 40 devs come in since then (between Maryland and Montreal, I'm not counting Austin). I think Austin was around 40 - 60 when they were merged, so it was between 250 - 280 as I said.

Edit: I see it now, but I'm pretty sure he's talking about other studios around Bethesda, not just BGS internal. Unless the 300 number was inaccurate, they had people transfer from other studios or something else. I know it says around 400 but that just doesn't sound right internally. Not that I completely go by LinkedIn, but it says around 220 devs for BGS. I know it's higher than that, but 400? I'm going to have to rewatch that because I thought he said 300 there.

Edit 2: He said 400, but I'm still pretty sure that includes other studios. He was talking about the Team meetings back in February too, and how it included those from other studios too that are working on BGS projects. So they aren't officially BGS developers, but they're "contracted" out as one.

Matty, what do you think? 400 overall, or does that number include developers from other studios working for them? Pretty sure it was talked about in the AIAS Game Maker's Notebook.

 

[Deleted member 36708]

Another studio that can develop for switch.... I'm okay with this.

 

[Darkstorne]

Cautiously optimistic about this. Bethesda needed to expand, but renaming satellite studios after a big name studio is something EA tried not too long ago with renaming every team to "Bioware" as though that would raise the quality of their games and not lead to any deprecation of the public image of "Bioware quality" as a result. Todd did talk at length in the recent NoClip documentary about the importance of working as one team though, so quality can remain consistent, so hopefully they manage this all well.

Still, I do keep wondering if they're fibbing about 76 being a BGS project, and are just saying that to make us more confident in it. I wonder if BGS are working on Starfield while all these other "Bethesda" teams are working on 76 and Blades with about as much BGS attention as Elder Scrolls Online had... But again, I think that's just a fear because of how EA did this trick with Bioware.

 

[Wollan]

My Elder Scrolls Blades impressions from QuakeCon: