ZeniMax Online Studios LLC is an American video game developer and a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, specializing in massively multiplayer online games. The company developed The Elder Scrolls Online and its downloadable content. ZeniMax Online Studios had around 250 employees in 2012. In addition to the main Hunt Valley, Maryland based office, ZeniMax Online also maintains a satellite studio in Budapest, Hungary as well as a customer support center in Galway, Ireland.

History

2007–2020: Formation, The Elder Scrolls Online

The formation of ZeniMax Online Studios was announced by ZeniMax Media on August 1, 2007, to be headed by Matt Firor, a massively multiplayer online game designer and veteran of Mythic Entertainment. The company was built to specialize in the creation of a massively multiplayer online game. In 2007 the company announced a partnership with Simutronics for the use of HeroEngine. In June 2008, ZeniMax Online Studios moved into its current office in Hunt Valley. On March 15, 2010, ZeniMax Online Studios announced that it will be using the Fork Particle SDK to create the particle effects in its unannounced upcoming massively multiplayer game. On March 15, 2011, ZeniMax Online Studios announced plans to open a customer support center in Galway, Ireland. The company's new facility will provide customer support for players of their future massively multiplayer online games and is expected to result in the creation of hundreds of jobs over the next several years. On August 8, 2011, ZeniMax Online Studios selected Splunk to be its platform for business intelligence, network operations monitoring, and operational intelligence. On March 6, 2012, ZeniMax Online Studios signed a licensing deal with Elastic Path Software. On May 3, 2012, Game Informer announced that ZeniMax Online Studios's video game in development will take place in The Elder Scrolls universe, approximately a millennium before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The game, The Elder Scrolls Online, was released in 2014.

2020–present: New Intellectual property, Microsoft, Company expansion

In December 2020, ZeniMax Online Studios formed a satellite office in San Diego to work on an original intellectual property. Ben Jones, Creative Director at ZeniMax Online Studios stated in October 2022 that the company was developing the new IP for four and a half years with a team of about 200 people. ZeniMax Media was acquired by Microsoft for US$7.5 billion in March 2021 and became part of Xbox Game Studios. ZeniMax Media purchased Hungarian studio Nemesys Games in 2022, and rebranded them as ZeniMax Online Studios Hungary. 300 QA testers, a majority at ZeniMax Studios voted to unionize as ZeniMax Workers United-CWA in January 2023. This follows the unionization efforts of QA testers at Activision Blizzard which was also acquired by Microsoft. In 2024, Microsoft signed a labor-neutrality agreement, agreeing not to interfere with any unionization efforts in all ZeniMax Media subsidiaries.

Games developed

Cancelled games