GameSpot reports that after 17 years, Todd Hollenshead has departed id Software LLC. He originally signed on as CEO in 1996 during the studio's glorious Quake days, and then was reappointed as president in 2009 as part of the ZeniMax acquisition. Bethesda confirmed his departure on Wednesday.
"After many years with the studio, Todd Hollenshead decided to leave id Software to pursue other personal interests," Bethesda said in a statement. "While Todd was not part of the development teams, he was an integral part of id Software's success as the business head of the studio, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors."
The news arrives after Bethesda confirmed that the Doom 4 team was forced to reboot the project because it was not living up to id Software and Bethesda's expectations. That meant trashing three years of work and re-doubling their efforts on a "rebooted" version beginning in 2011. The screenshots leaked in late February 2012 were long out of date before they hit the Internet, leading to a belief that they were part of the original project and have nothing to do with the new Doom 4 (similar to what happened when 3D Realms closed its doors).
Bethesda and parent company ZeniMax also reportedly canceled Rage 2. Sources told Kotaku back in April that because the first game received tepid critical and commercial response, executives at parent company ZeniMax decided to get more involved with id Software's development process. Over the next few months, ZeniMax met with id Software's leadership and not only downsized Rage DLC plans, but killed the Rage 2 project. Individuals working on the latter were shifted over to the troubled Doom 4 project.
Id Software's most recent release is 2012's Doom 3: BFG Edition which was largely focused on bringing the aged shooter up to speed on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (although the PC version had perks too). Prior to that, the studio launched Rage in 2011, its first new IP since launching the Quake series in 1996.
At the time of this article, Todd Hollenshead had not stepped forward to tell fans what he's doing next. His Twitter account has also been silent since June 12.