Bethesda Acquires New Studio To Make More Mobile Games

Bethesda, the publisher of Fallout and Elder Scrolls, has acquired a mobile game studio to help bolster its efforts in the space. Bethesda announced that it has acquired the Canadian studio Alpha Dog Games, which developed the action-RPG Wraithborne and the action-strategy game MonstroCity: Rampage.

Bethesda vice president of development Todd Vaughn said in a statement that the publisher was "impressed" by Alpha Dog's "commitment to quality and depth of experience in mobile."

"We're excited to have them join the Bethesda family," Vaughn added

Alpha Dog will work alongside Bethesda on its "growing mobile game initiative." The studio will create "new exciting titles" for both iOS and Android.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Founded in 2012, Alpha Dog by veterans Shawn Woods (former art director at Microsoft) and Jeff Cameron (Microsoft, THQ, EA, Ubisoft, 2K, and HBO), Alpha Dog says its games aim to "set the bar high with a heavy focus on social experience." The studio develops its games using the Unity and Unreal Engine 4 development tools.

Bethesda's first mobile game was Fallout Shelter, which proved to be a big hit, making many millions of dollars from microtransactions. It's still supported today with new content and updates. Bethesda then released the digital card game The Elder Scrolls: Legends in 2017, which was followed up by The Elder Scrolls: Blades in 2019.

Bethesda has been ramping up its mobile efforts, even before this new announcement. In 2015, the company opened a new office branch in Montreal that would "expand its development capabilities in console, PC, and mobile gaming."

In other news, Bethesda just recently announced a new subscription service for Fallout 76 called Fallout 1st. The offering, which goes for $100 per year, grants access to private servers and more. Bethesda recently spoke to GameSpot to clarify some of the private server issues.