Bethesda acquires Alpha Dog Games

Bethesda has acquired Canadian mobile game developer, Alpha Dog Games.

Alpha Dog Games – which makes “fun and engaging products for iOS and Android” – was founded in 2012 by Shawn Woods and Jeff Cameron. Bethesda says the Nova Scotia-based studio will now support Bethesda’s “growing mobile game initiative, developing new and exciting titles for iOS and Android devices”.

“We believe there is not one end-all, be-all solution”, Alpha Dog says on its website. “Each game is unique and requires handcrafted experiences that fit the audience. However, none of this can happen if you don’t first ‘find the fun’ and give the player genuine value for their time no matter what.

“We develop games we believe in as a team and set the bar high with a heavy focus on social experience. Harnessing the power of Unity and Unreal Engine 4, our goal is to build an iconic brand through evolutionary design and pushing the limit of mobile games.”

“We are impressed by the team at Alpha Dog’s commitment to quality and depth of experience in mobile,” said Bethesda’s senior vice president of development, Todd Vaughn. “We’re excited to have them join the Bethesda family.”

In other Bethesda news, the company announced a new streaming service called Orion back at E3 2019, which aims at “optimising game engines for performance in a cloud environment” and “address the complex challenges of streaming.” We’ve yet to hear much more about the company’s cutting-edge tech, but while on stage during Bethesda’s E3 conference, id Software CTO Robert Duffy and Bethesda director of publishing James Altman announced that Bethesda’s new cloud-based streaming solution could run 20 per cent faster with 40 per cent less bandwidth than other cloud services. It also promises better performances even with slow Internet speeds.

The pair demoed Orion’s capability by showing 2016’s Doom played on stage on a smartphone at 60fps. Players can try Orion by signing up for Doom’s official fan club, Slayers Club – and maybe win a chance to take part in Orion’s upcoming beta tech test.