id Software Rejected Activision Takeover, Fired Adrian Carmack, Court Documents Reveal
- September 28, 2005 13:39 PM PST
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An intriguing look into one of the most secretive developers in the gaming industry.
id Software, developers of legendary games like the Doom and Quake series, has long been noted for its fierce independence and creative freedom.
But recent court documents suggest that Activision nearly bought out the Texas-based developer, according to today's Wall Street Journal. The article also claims that id Software rejected a $105 million takeover bid from publisher Activision last year.
Perhaps more interesting, the WSJ reports that the court documents show that id Software computer artist and co-founder Adrian Carmack (no relation to id's technical director, John Carmack), was forced out of the company after "executives tracked the hours he worked at the company, refused him access to board documents," and generally tried to make his life miserable.
Earlier this month, Carmack filed to have his employment contract declared invalid.Carmack claims that id refused to sell the company to Activision as part of a ploy to have him sell his shares back to the developer for far less than he would have made from the Activision sale.
