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Bethesda acquires Human Head Studios to form Roundhouse Studios

Human Head Studios looks to have closed its doors. However, Bethesda appears to have stepped in and saved everyone's jobs by folding them into new venture Roundhouse Studios.
Ozzie Mejia
Ozzie Mejia
3

Human Head Studios has been wading through tough waters in recent years, even with the recent release of Rune 2 earlier this week. The studio now appears to have closed their doors for good. However, what could be another tragic story in the game development world looks to have a happy ending. Bethesda has announced that it has stepped in and acquired the now-defunct studio and picked up all of their employees, which appears to result in zero lost jobs. They will all go on to join a new Bethesda venture called Roundhouse Studios.

Rune 2
Rune II (The final Human Head Studios project)

"Sadly, we had to wind down the business of Human Head Studios and close its doors, which was particularly devastating due to the passion and creativity of the team we'd assembled," Creative Director Chris Rhinehart said via press release. "We reached out to our friends at Bethesda for help, and they saw that same creativity and passion in our team. With the formation of Roundhouse Studios, Bethesda offered every employee of Human Head a position at the new company. We are excited our team will remain together, pursuing the work we love, as part of a company we already know and admire."

Human Head has developed several games, such as 2018's The Quiet Man and the 2006 Prey. They've also offered their services to a number of blockbuster games, including Batman: Arkham Origins and BioShock Infinite. Most recently, they released Rune II as an Epic Games Store exclusive. (A Steam release is currently still listed for 2020.) However, Human Head might be most famously known for what they didn't release. Prey 2 turned a lot of heads when it was shown behind closed doors at E3 2011, but the project was stuck in limbo for years afterwards. Publisher Bethesda ultimately cancelled the project, citing that it was not up to quality standards.

The new Roundhouse Studios will begin work immediately on new projects for Bethesda. There is no word on what will happen with existing Human Head projects like Rune II, but this announcement looks to spell the end for any further development on those games.

Senior Editor
Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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