Bethesda suffers Splash Damage

With Activision enlisting others to create the upcoming console editions of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, original developer Splash Damage hasn't had an announced project to work on since October. However, gamers today learned a little bit more about the company's upcoming projects when Bethesda Softworks announced a long-term development partnership with Splash Damage.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Bethesda said details about Splash Damage's next project would arrive in the coming months.

Founded in 2001, Splash Damage was made up of members of the PC mod-making community. The studio has been closely tied to id Software's projects, rising to prominence with the Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory multiplayer add-on and contributing multiplayer maps to Doom 3 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein as well.

Bethesda most recently had a hit with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but the publisher has a variety of other projects in the works. In addition to the upcoming postapocalyptic role-playing game Fallout 3, Bethesda is working on the tactical shooter Rogue Warrior and has recently produced a handful of games in the Star Trek universe.