ZeniMax buys Starbreeze founder's new studio - Report

ZeniMax media has been on a tear of acquisitions of late, buying up Arx Fatalis creator Arkane Studios in August and Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami's Tango Gameworks last month. Now, according to a Gamasutra report, the Maryland-based media company may have scooped up another studio.

Sparked by Twitter chatter, the report found Swedish business records, which indicated that the indie studio Machineworks has had its named changed to ZeniMax Sweden AB. The name change presumably came from a buyout of the indie shop, which was founded in 2009 by Starbreeze cofounder Magnus Hogdahl and other members of the Chronicles of Riddick development team. According to its bare-bones website, "Machinegames is a developer of exciting AAA titles for next-gen platforms."

As of press time, requests for confirmation of the buyout sent to both ZeniMax and Machinegames had not been answered. However, if true, the purchase would bring even more talent into the ZeniMax fold, which already includes such major names as id Software (Doom 4, Rage) and Bethesda Softworks (Fallout 3, the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion). The company also has an online division currently working on an unnamed massively multiplayer project and recently received $150 million in funding from a private equity company.