Bethesda announced on Twitter today the passing of their founder and CEO, Robert A. Altman.
"He was a true visionary, friend, and believer in the spirit of people and the power of what they could accomplish together," they said in the tweet, with an attached statement that said they are "proud to carry on the values and principles Robert taught us."
Bethesda's statement included an email from Altman - one of many that he would send out to everyone in the company every week during the pandemic - to show how he kept in touch with his employees.
"We know many are feeling the pressure of isolation, and the stresses related to our current circumstances. Again, I urge you to make time for yourselves daily, schedule online social gatherings, and keep your perspective, knowing this will pass.
"Tomorrow I encourage everyone to take a break to toast our company's 21st birthday...you have done something extraordinary, something few startups ever do.
"You have created a multinational, multi-billion dollar business, stacked with talent at all levels of the company...and you have done it the right way, always faithful to our core principles of integrity, respect, team, quality."
Altman's son, James, the Director of Publishing Operations at Bethesda, released a statement about his father's passing, calling him a "fiercely loyal" friend, whose quotes and quips in meetings were so memorable that they were recorded in a notebook by Creative Director of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series, Todd Howard.
"In my first week at ZeniMax, I was surprised to learn that Robert emailed the entire company if he had baseball tickets he wasn’t using. He was, unsurprisingly, inundated with emails within a matter of seconds.
I politely suggested there may be better uses of his time than to get a full inbox for something so minor. He said “No, I prefer to do it myself. I like a personal touch, and besides, I like hearing from everybody.”" - James Altman
Zenimax is the parent company behind the studios that made Skyrim (Bethesda), Dishonored (Arkane), The Evil Within (Tango Gameworks), DOOM (idSoftware), and Wolfenstein (MachineGames). Altman founded the company in 1999 following a career in law, along with co-founder Christopher Weaver, who left in 2002. Microsoft recently bought out Zenimax for $7.5 billion.
No cause of death has been reported.
Altman is survived by his wife, former Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter, and their children, James and Jessica Altman. Our condolences go out to his friends, family, and coworkers.
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 38
Oh, wow that's sad. RIP in Peace. I'll never forget the fun memories I've had in Skyrim.
😔 Rest in peace.
RIP Mr Altman, made some amazing experiences over the last 21 years.
A real shame, he did a lot of good work together with his wife.
RIP. He sounded like a great guy
RIP. My condolences to his family.
I hope he passed on knowing the legacy his company left behind. Some of the franchises intrinsic to my formative gaming years wouldn't be around if it weren't for him.
Rest in peace.
I thought, for a fleeting moment, “the guy who made all those classic films ALSO owned Bethesda???”
What a beautiful moment it was
Altman be praised.
@TheFrenchiestFry that email that Bethesda tweeted out would imply that he did, and he was really proud. That's something to hold on to, at least!
Yeah my condolences blah blah.
This guy was a dirty snake who is a professional back stabber.
If it wasn't for Altman, Bethesda might still have been a good company, not a carbon copy of EA which it has become.
@Razer you're probably the kind of person to pose next to someone's gravestone just because they called you fat in class.
@Razer Not the time or place, genius.
@Razer Dude the man just died show a little respect. We can discuss his legacy at a later time. Also, without his financial backing games like Skyrim would had probably not been made same with a multitude of titles.
I offer my condolences. Sad to see him go.
@Razer I agree with Wexter, you really need to show some respect.
He was married to the ORIGINAL Wonder Woman? Wow, lucky devil...
Sorry to see he passed away. He reached a relatively good age, but still too young, in my opinion. My condolences to his loved ones and his co-workers.
@Razer okay you had your few seconds of fame, now go on. What the hell is wrong with you?
RIP, you'll be missed for sure. I wouldn't be into gaming if it weren't for games like fallout 3 and skyrim. My condolences go out to his family and friends.
This man was part of the reason why the industry has become what it has become, i won't apologise for what i think of this snake.
He stabbed his own friend in the back to secure his own position and rode on that glory for nearly 2 decades.
His legacy has helped to ruin this industry, microtransactions became a thing under his watch, Bethesda were infamous for that ridiculous horse armour on Oblivion that kicked this entire loot box thing in paid video games off.
I said my condolences, albeit with as much respect to his passing as he had for the industry he helped to ruin and one that we all love.
I don't quite care what any of you think. I stand by my convictions, i don't care who they upset.
@Razer you got sources for everything your spouting or are you just talking out of your ass? Show some damn respect ffs the man just passed away.
@FluffiestP1llow go do your homework kid.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Weaver
In the 1980s, Weaver was introduced to video games when he was asked by one of his engineers to look at a football game idea he was developing – Weaver felt it "was boring". His fix was a physics engine, bounded by football rules. They decided to produce the game, resulting in the formation of Bethesda Softworks. The game was released as Gridiron! for the Atari ST and Commodore 64/128, in 1986.[2] Bethesda later found widespread success as a game developer with its Elder Scrolls series of games.
In 1999, Weaver cofounded ZeniMax Media with Robert A. Altman, as a new parent company for Bethesda. Weaver contributing his stake in Bethesda to ZeniMax,[2] and served as CTO until 2002, then was pushed out. He filed a lawsuit against ZeniMax, claiming he was ousted by his new business partners and was owed severance when ZeniMax didn't renew his employment contract.[5] They filed counterclaims saying he had gone through emails of other employees to make his case.[6][7] In the end, the case was resolved out of court. Although still the largest shareholder as of 2007, Weaver no longer had any day-to-day responsibilities with ZeniMax.[8]
Oh and here is the legal files for the case too.
Zenimax have been doing everything they can to have all articles about the original case deleted.
I and many others still remember clearly what happened.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/md-court-of-special-appeals/1343501.html
@Razer who gives a s**t. The guy just died. He's still a person with a family. Grow the f**k up.
Well now we know why he sold it to Microsoft
@Razer okay cool you actually provided evidence, kinda surprised.
But do you still ***** on him after he died? Thats f**king disrespectful in every sense of the word. The man had a family who is now mourning the loss of their loved one and you do this? How much of a piece of s**t do you have to be to do such a thing? He didn't do a damn thing to you. Grow up and show some damn respect. Imagine being such a scumbag that you do this. Your a terrible person. Hope you're proud of yourself.
@Razer OH MY GOD, DID YOU NOT TAKE THE HINT? Nobody C A R E S. Somebody just died, and unless he committed multiple war crimes, stop talking out of your ass.
@Tasuki That's dark.
@Razer Show some f*cking empathy. I doubt he's the reason some games turned out to be disappointing or underwhelming.
Your dad probably regrets not pulling out if this is the little sh*t the mom had to carry
@HotGoomba How's is that dark? If I was a founder of something and I wanted to keep it going after I passed I would sell it to someone who can keep it going after I passed. Why do you think Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney?
RIP to a historic figure
@Tasuki Oh, I didn't think of that. I apologize.
@HotGoomba No need to apologize. How were you suppose to know what I was thinking.
@Alpha_Pulse i honestly do not care what anyone of you spineless cowards think.
This snake has ruined many peoples lives who also had families and he didn't give two $h1tz himself.
Like i give a damn what a bunch of convictionless losers on the Internet think.
This man has helped to ruin this industry.
If not for him, Bethesda might have still been the darling developers they use to be in the early 00s. The Industry might have not been riddled with microtransactions on paid games.
This man turned one of the most beloved companies in the game development landscape and turned them into EA v2.
And I'm mean to show empathy to this snake? When he died 20 years too late.
Give me a break. Like i said before, i stand by my convictions. You all can kiss his ass all you like. His family get to live on stolen glory and back stabbed wealth.
I love how Reddit took on the establishment and everyone cheers.
One of the snakest people in our industries establishment finally passes away and it's all tears and sorrow... you all need to grow a spine.
You know what guys, just don't feed into @Razer's bait anymore. Even if we try to show his wrong, it is mind seems set. If you are annoyed by him, ignore him. If you feel like you need to do something, report him. Just DON'T feed into his bait anymore.
@Razer then gtfo this website, we don't want you here anyway
@FluffiestP1llow agreed
@Razer yawn... wow! Sorry I've just never been so bored reading a comment before. If you didn't care about what us losers on the Internet think you would be flicking through the comments section.
You sir are terribly boring.
@Razer Spoken like a true edgelord. What do you get out of this? Do you feel like you "get the final word in"? In the end, you're doing this for attention because this is about Mr. Altman and not you. Just another typical coward gamer who takes the entire hobby way too seriously. He didn't ruin anyone's lives. You took your research and are trying to live it. You weren't part of his life or involved in anything he was involved in. You're literally basing your extreme hate towards someone who just died, and for one this isn't the article to comment on for this crap it's incredibly disrespectful. And before you go on spouting how I'm a lesser human child I'm actually a nurse who deals with death regularly. I'm the person who tells the families their member just died. I get to deal with the body and make it presentable to the family. So, you have no idea what it's like to deal with the dead or what respect even is. You're a man-child living behind a keyboard and screen.
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