Bethesda Softworks Opens Roundhouse Studios From The Ashes of Human Head Studios

Bethesda Softworks just opened a new development studio called Roundhouse Studios.

The team, headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, is comprised of ex-employees of Human Head Studios, which recently was shuttered. The new developer outfit will begin working on new projects from Bethesda Softworks, the company said in a press release.

Collectively, the developers at Roundhouse Studios bring over 20 years of experience in creating new games and experimenting with different genres. They originally brought the first "Prey" title to life, but have been relatively quiet since then - save for the sequel to "Rune," "Rune II," which just made its way out to gamers on Nov. 12.

"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," Chris Rhinehart, Roundhouse Studios creative director explained. "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."

It's currently unclear what type of projects the organization will be tackling here in the future, but work is noted to begin "immediately."

"While sorry to hear of their challenges as Human Head Studios, we were excited by the opportunity to bring under the Bethesda umbrella this talented, established development team. We are delighted that the entire staff will remain together and is now part of the Bethesda family," senior vice president of development Todd Vaughn said in a statement.

It's great news that the displaced workers weren't terribly inconvenienced by the change in titles and work designation change, but it's unclear at this time what they'll be tasked with completing. It's likely we'll hear more about this in the future, though without any major gaming events on the horizon, it may take a bit for Bethesda to want to showcase something new like, say, on the E3 2020 stage.