Bethesda parent trademarks 'Brink'

ZeniMax files USPTO application for new "computer game software" project, though details in short supply.

Nearly a year ago to the day, Bethesda Softworks entered into a long-term development deal with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars developer Splash Damage. Details on that project have been held under close wraps, with Bethesda surfacing to talk about the project only when Splash Damage adds a high-profile developer to its team. Such recent additions include Fable II lead designer Paul Ham and Killzone 2 lead level designer Neil Alphonso.

Now, with the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo just two weeks away, the name of that project may have surfaced, courtesy of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. On Friday, Bethesda Softworks parent company ZeniMax Media filed an application to trademark "Brink" with the USPTO.

When it is approved, the filing will secure a claim for the name on "computer game software for use with personal computers and home video game consoles; downloadable computer game software offered via the internet and wireless devices." The application also lays claim to "entertainment services, namely, providing on-line interactive computer games and providing information relating to electronic computer games via the internet."

Of note, Bethesda and ZeniMax are also at work on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, having secured $300 million in funding for it and other development projects in 2007. However, Bethesda's MMOG in question is widely believed to be set in the publisher's popular Elder Scrolls universe.

Bethesda had not responded to requests for comment on the filing as of press time.

84 Comments

  • shooters125

    Posted Sep 11, 2009 6:08 pm GMT

    please bethesda if your reading this please make ghoul a playable race.

  • joejaybate

    Posted Jun 1, 2009 2:43 am GMT

    Intriguing trailer to say the least, hope its a good one!
    Stonerkid i agree that oblivion and fallout 3 are great games but it would get damn boring if developers who made great games only ever made new ones to the same formula.
    If developers have shown their ability to create good games, then i think we should encourage them to push boundaries of innovation. This of course will lead to some 'stinkers' but it will be worth it if there are then new, completely unique, innovative games.

  • killeridis

    Posted May 29, 2009 2:03 am GMT

    Well it is bethesda so i expect something big from brink i think it will be a great game and the relase date is not far cool cool.

  • mattcarlo

    Posted May 28, 2009 8:58 pm GMT

    This game is going to be great.

  • Fady117

    Posted May 27, 2009 2:27 am GMT

    Great move, sounds like another DLC for us. Plus, Bethesda better keep developing things about Oblivion and FallOut coz these 2 franchises are a must for years to come. if i were at Bethesda, i'd start working on Oblivion's Game Engine

  • stonerkid42069

    Posted May 26, 2009 5:54 pm GMT

    the best move would be to keep all future fallout and eldar scroll games exactly the way they are. There last 2 relases fallout 3 is perfect highly advanced grapichs and oblivion highly advanced grapichs dont really have to say highly advanced gameplay cause anyone who played them both would have no doubt that there gameplay is supreme. thats my 2 cents changeing those games would be like nukeing the earth theres no point in it

  • joshuahaveron

    Posted May 24, 2009 2:37 am GMT

    As long as they make more single player EDS and this it will be good. I might play this instead of WOW

  • bennae66

    Posted May 24, 2009 12:02 am GMT

    i will be disappointed if elder scrolls 5 is multiplayer. it wont work. there, i said it

  • greatcarbuncle

    Posted May 22, 2009 3:04 pm GMT

    doesn't sound like bethesda is leaving much time or many resources to develop a single player TES5.

    :@

    and @shawnanthony - at least oblivion was unique in that. in japanese rpgs the boys look like girls

  • Mr_Versipellis

    Posted May 22, 2009 10:13 am GMT

    I love TES. an MMO would break my cold, Dunmer heart... S'wits!

  • aura_enchanted

    Posted May 22, 2009 9:55 am GMT

    no both as an MMO would be dreadful. fallout would be hailed as a tabula rasa rebound. oblivion wouldnt work either as its world is to vast for current teams to develope in any reasonable time frame let alone upkeep on servers. both would have too much work in them to do without pulling a ff11 (and going against its established grain in the wood).
    and furthermore anyone who hails a game as a WoW clone with no INDISPUTABLE evidence is an ignorant fool who cannot be reasoned with or is 13 years old (roughly).

  • mikeyg756

    Posted May 22, 2009 12:20 am GMT

    The smart move would be to keep elder scrolls single player and make fallout a MMO. If they decide to do the elder scrolls it will end up being too similar to the way world of warcraft plays. Fallout would be somthing completely different.

  • BladeTrinity114

    Posted May 21, 2009 9:14 am GMT

    Ok maybe my last comment was slightly misleading. I meant that making a new franchise would be awesome. I agree with everyone else that is shouldn't be solely MMO because that would be a stupid idea. I also would like it to be free but I have a feeling it won't...

  • shawnanthony

    Posted May 21, 2009 8:57 am GMT

    I hope the character models are prettier in there MMO then in TES games. The girls look like boys in there games lol...

  • Meladath

    Posted May 21, 2009 7:20 am GMT

    I agree with MuddVader and everyone that says that Elder Scrolls should be kept single-player. The Elder Scrolls story is good, but much of the incentive to get the next in the series would disappear if the ''do whatever you want to'' element would be hampered. Besides, there wouldn't be any monthly fees (considering Bethesda's reputation there most certainly will be) if it's single-player.

  • MuddVader

    Posted May 21, 2009 6:40 am GMT

    @RoboWizard
    I thought of a bunch of stuff to write, but people obviously dont like the stuff i say considering the red marks i get lol. so i'll say something simple, It would be a foolish mistake of the company, with their current fan base being strong, to take the game completely in a different direction when the reason they have those fans is because of their amazing single player games. They would be genius to take a simple hint from the FF series and say, "Online isnt the final solution" and were to continue with their games long after the MMO is released if indeed there is one to take place in the Elder Scrolls Universe. In other words, regardless, an MMO shouldnt be the final chapter in the TES series because its unethical to change genre for a final game when most of your fans arent just fans because of the story, but more the gameplay and freedom the game allows to do thing what when and how you wish.

  • confucioussayyo

    Posted May 21, 2009 4:43 am GMT

    Ozmosus: Yeah, Bethseda was leasing(or some other legal process that I don't understand) the rights for a Fallout MMO to Interplay, the original developer of the Fallout games. Interplay dropped the ball though, and Bethesda took it away(again, some legal stuff that I don't get). I would assume that they've decided to do it themselves.

    Hawkeye456: Seems likely.

  • hawkeye456

    Posted May 21, 2009 4:16 am GMT

    isn't the MMOG Project V13 for the Fallout universe or is there going to be an MMOG for elder scrolls?

  • jonthereaper

    Posted May 21, 2009 2:19 am GMT

    hmmm...at work on an MMO? well.. Bethesda announced they were going to make another elder scrolls quite a while ago now after Fallout 3 was released.. is this the new Elder Scrolls perhaps? I sure as hell hope so!!!
    It would certainly be an interesting take on the series, and hopefully would be as good as Oblivion was

  • Ozmosus

    Posted May 21, 2009 12:52 am GMT

    @ confucioussayyo

    As far as I know Bethesda does not have the rights to make a Fallout MMO. Some other guys bought the rights to do that... can't remember which ones it was tho. Only thing I remember is that they bought the rights for the game and hired one of the big guys behind the original Fallout games.

    ... or something like that

  • Merl57

    Posted May 21, 2009 12:37 am GMT

    I remember the skating movie from the 90's with the same name

  • killeridis

    Posted May 20, 2009 11:56 pm GMT

    I want to add something more, ok i don't say and elder scroll mmo will not be good but all fans of mmo's already playing on great mmo's like wow,aoc,warhammer,ffxi and others. And i don't thing they are in a hurry to just go and say ok i don't care for all the thousand hours i spent for this mmo i want to just throw everything and go to elder scrolls mmo.
    And second elder scrolls is and mazing single player, if they are dying to do something online do multiplayer not mmo dammit.

    On the other hand i think i undestand why many developer go and do mmo's this days cause with pirating and the economic crysis we have they just don't have the guts to just risk another great sp i mean face it there is more chance got more money and for longer time from an mmo.

  • natethegreat440

    Posted May 20, 2009 11:48 pm GMT

    They better not screw up the Elder Scroll franchise by making it a MMOG. That's what's happening to KOTOR. It would kinda ruin the fantasy for me to see an elf being controlled by some 12-year old going around tea bagging a bunch of dead guards.

  • RoboWizard

    Posted May 20, 2009 11:21 pm GMT

    @MuddVader: Assuming you're right, that this break to make an Elder Scrolls MMO (if it is in fact an Elder Scrolls MMO and not some new IP) does not spell the end for the Elder Scrolls series of single-player RPGS (a la Final Fantasy as opposed to WarCraft), then there is truly little for me to complain about.

    That said, there are still a FEW things I can complain about that I think are worth mentioning. The first and foremost of these being that any time they spend making this MMO will have, as others here have mentioned, the "Blizzard Effect" of slowing down (if not outright stopping) the development of other games in the series, potentially. The other thing for me is, and I'll freely admit it shows how much of a dork I am for this series I've come to know and love, but I couldn't help but feel like an MMO would mess up the canon something awful. Much in the way WoW has created this dilemma of "where do we go now?" for the universe, I can't imagine that creating a persistent game with a changing world would leave much room for creating a separate game, in the same world, with a definitive statement on what happens when this MMO ceases to be. In case that last bit didn't make a whole lot of sense, let me rephrase it by asking: how do we pick up a story set in this world from scratch for TESV without finishing the story of the MMO with a firm ending for the tales of these 100,000 or however many heroes? Maybe set it in the past? I don't know, but it'd be weird and awkward unless done with Shakespearean grace.

  • Gabe447

    Posted May 20, 2009 10:18 pm GMT

    i mean mmorpg woops

  • Gabe447

    Posted May 20, 2009 10:16 pm GMT

    I really wouldn't be surprised if it is a elder scrolls mmo all the lore, Continent's,weapons,races, i really wouldnt be surprised ive played them all lol it would be kwl if they made it like the other games a fps/rpg/mmo and not a another 3rd person mmo i want something different! lol

  • confucioussayyo

    Posted May 20, 2009 8:14 pm GMT

    Maybe Gamespot is wrong(imagine that), and this MMO is the Fallout MMO that Interplay screwed up.

    Either way, there had better be a single player ES as well. It doesn't have to come soon, but it has to come before or alongside either MMO. I think it should get priority now, after they finish all this DLC.

  • Wall

    Posted May 20, 2009 7:44 pm GMT

    I really hope the Elder Scrolls series doesn't degenerate into a MMORPG.

  • Liquify

    Posted May 20, 2009 7:33 pm GMT

    Instead of an Elder Scrolls MMO they should just add a multiplayer/LAN component to the existing Elder Scrolls formula just to add a co-op element, similar to something like Diablo II. Making an Elder Scrolls MMO would be taking it too far, the series is most enjoyable as a single player focused game.

  • Pete5506

    Posted May 20, 2009 7:23 pm GMT

    Man I hope there is a good game coming out

  • Diernes

    Posted May 20, 2009 7:15 pm GMT

    Get Elder scrolls 4 on the PC. Proceed to download about 200 mods to get all the rubbish out of it. After afew hours work, bingo, There is your eldar scrolls 5.

    Seriously though. Oblivion on PC with mod's is amazing, (terrible on consoles vanilla) They would have their work cut out for them topping what you can do with the game now.

  • abosh1

    Posted May 20, 2009 6:51 pm GMT

    the Elder Scrolls is brilliant, and i hope that we will see an Elder Scrolls V sometime in the near future

  • YoZbaNaToR

    Posted May 20, 2009 6:47 pm GMT

    Would love to see an Elder Scrolls V.

  • killeridis

    Posted May 20, 2009 6:42 pm GMT

    I don't want another mmo we have plenty so far and some more coming mercy.

  • ISuPrEmAcY32I

    Posted May 20, 2009 6:37 pm GMT

    Elder Scrolls is one of my all time favorite series. That being said, I would be completely up for an Elder Scrolls MMO. I have high expectations in MMO's however, being an endgame raider in WoW during burning crusade. As long as it is a great game, has a group component like instances/raiding I think Elder Scrolls is a prime candidate for an MMO. I would be very disappointed if ES: V was an MMO however. If they sacrifice the single player epic ES games for the MMO that would really annoy me. Playing MMO's and raiding is fun, but sometimes it's nice to just relax, play a single player game, do things at your own pace, pause the game when you get hungry, etc. It's been several years since Oblivion came out. Let's hear an announcent about the next ES soon Bethesda.

  • xXFr34k_0uTXx

    Posted May 20, 2009 6:37 pm GMT

    @UltimaFullmetal: Thank you. I needed a good laugh. Lol

  • xXFr34k_0uTXx

    Posted May 20, 2009 4:57 pm GMT

    @RoboWizard: I don't agree with this sudden sprint to the multiplayer world of gaming. Don't get me wrong, I like certain games that survive off the multiplayer aspect, but the ES series would not feel the same if it were an MMO. On top of that, I think casual gamers are attracted to MP gaming opposed to SP, which is why companies are slashing into it. Just look how much money Blizzard pulls in with WoW ... and if you play WoW you will notice that 3 quarters of the people you play with our young gamers, often VERY young. This is why they make so much money, and this is why Bethesda and Bioware are "tapping into the MMO world." As much as we don't like the concept, it will probably happen. I just hope they don't take the ES series and throw it there. Bethesda SHOULD be smart enough to just create an all new franchise if and when they go MMO. Then they can simply reel in the cash to create that ES: V game we are anxiously waiting for. Aside of Dragon Age: Origins, I would be stoked if Bioware would begin to construct another Baldur's Gate title. ES and Baldur's Gate are two of the best SP RPG series in my opinion, hands down.

  • MuddVader

    Posted May 20, 2009 4:19 pm GMT

    @RoboWizard, not to sounds rude, but dont play it than.
    In any case, i'm pretty sure that there will be a fifth oblivion and that this is just a whole nother project that they are going to use the Oblivion world for, I really doubt it, but imagine how insane an MMO would be if it had the fighting system of Oblivion, it would be amazing if they could pull that off with No more ATB bs, just good old fatigue and magika limiting what you can do. Though for people like you Robowizard, just pay no mind to this game, I'm sure the next true addition to the Elder Scrolls series will be just as great and single player aswell just like Oblivion, but with the next one i hope there is a form of multiplayer, because personally i think it would be insane to delve into dungeons and battle powerful monsters with pals.

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted May 20, 2009 4:16 pm GMT

    @RoboWizard: Agreed wholeheartedly... while I wouldn't say I don't have the time for MMOs, per se, I'd rather play a diverse selection of games than feel tied to one because I'm paying a subscription fee for it. I also reject the notion that gaming HAS to be a social experience... sometimes I come home from work and don't want anything to do with anyone and would rather just play a single player game. And I don't really see too much of a point to MMOs anyway... it's sortof like after you beat GTA and you just run around blowing stuff up. As fun as that is, Rockstar wouldn't get my $60 if it didn't have the single player component and they surely wouldn't get a subscription fee.

    Personally, I'd rather see another single player RPG from Bethesda than an MMO... like a new Sea Dogs or even a new IP. I'd really like to see Bethesda so a samurai game... sortof like Way of the Samurai meets Fallout 3.

  • RoboWizard

    Posted May 20, 2009 4:06 pm GMT

    Back in the days of Morrowind, I never would have thought that single player gaming would be such dying niche, yet here we are. To the best of my knowledge, there are only two companies that make good western RPGs these days (Bioware and Bethesda), and now I come to find out that they're both trying to tap into the saturated MMO market I have no interest of participating in.

    I understand that some think it's close-minded of me to "knock it before I've tried it," but here's the deal: I have a job and am a full-time college student with virtually no time to kick back and enjoy games, so when I get the opportunity, I enjoy it, but I could never see myself having enough time to justify commititng regular payments, effectively forcing me to find to play the game so I don't waste my investment. I'm sure my situation holds for a lot of people.

    Beyond that, I just really want a good immersive single-player experience, and specifically a fifth Elder Scrolls game that sticks to the proven formula of "do anything you want in this massive world with real lasting consequences." As opposed to any MMO, that requires a suspension of disbelief on the part of the player every time they slay some demon, only to have it spawn again in a minute.

  • Neosword

    Posted May 20, 2009 3:38 pm GMT

    Sounds like a pretty good team of developers on this "Brink" game. Can't wait to hear more about it.

  • TheTrooper45

    Posted May 20, 2009 3:30 pm GMT

    yeah i wouldnt want a MMO, if i did, id play WOW, and ive never played WOW, because i dont like MMO. I love elderscrolls just the way it is. If theres a way to play single player, as well as online , im down. I dont care really as long as i have my own single experience.

  • spikepigeo

    Posted May 20, 2009 3:15 pm GMT

    Okassar, there's nothing wrong with judging the IDEA of an Elder Scrolls MMO... my opinion on the THOUGHT of an Elder Scrolls MMO is "Bethesda, please don't ruin a good thing!" For me, the Elder Scrolls series is the best series of RPG games, making the 5th one an MMO would cut short that glorious sequence of amazing games. I love MMOs, but I love offline RPGs as well and I don't want the would-be next greatest RPG to be an MMO. I'll leave that to SWtOR.

  • Gladestone1

    Posted May 20, 2009 3:01 pm GMT

    Thats the end of the elder scrolls series..Look at how long it took blizzard to make diablo 3 an starcraft..SInce wow came out it was on the back burner..Elder scrools is there money maker..Why do this..There is enough mmorpgs out in the market..The only one ive been interested at all of is star trek online...Let the mmorpg market die already..

  • okassar

    Posted May 20, 2009 3:01 pm GMT

    As gamers, we shouldn't be so conservative,we should open up to new ideas that developers think will work out. If Bethesda plans on making an Elder Scrolls MMO, don't judge the idea until the actual game is released. Good God.

  • Articfox6

    Posted May 20, 2009 3:00 pm GMT

    If its coming to consoles then it most likely wont be an MMO.

  • llakallaka

    Posted May 20, 2009 2:56 pm GMT

    mmo...ill pass...might change idea if fallout mmo is good enough to make me change idea !!!

  • Nihmmoh posted May 20, 2009 2:45 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Nihmmoh

    Posted May 20, 2009 2:45 pm GMT (hide)

    well i dont have to worry about elder scrolls 5 being an mmo cuz i dont even like elder scrolls games!

  • domij

    Posted May 20, 2009 2:29 pm GMT

    It would ruin the Elder Scrolls series if they would make it into an mmo.It just would not feel right, and It being single player only is one of the reasons I like the Elder Scrolls.Its nice not having people running around calling everyone noobs as well as not having to deal with monthly fees, and many other things as well.Plus it feels like a much more unique experience.another thing is that most mmo games stories are pretty shallow if they really have one at all and the Elder Scrolls games are sorta known for the exact opposite of that... so hopefully they are not.Thought I doubt they will or are.but if they do or are maybe it will stand out from other mmo games that are currently out.

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