Founder and CEO of Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Robert Altman has passed away

Robert Altman, founder and CEO of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of game studio Bethesda, has died. Bethesda has announced that. Altman turned 73 years old. No cause of death has been announced.

In a letter to the employees, Altman’s son James writes that the death of Robert Altman is unexpected. Altman was a lawyer before founding ZeniMax Media in 1999 with Bethesda Software founder Christopher Weaver. Under Altman’s leadership, Bethesda released such successful game series as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout and the new Doom series, and he was heavily involved in Microsoft’s recent $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax.

Bethesda describes Altman as a committed and beloved executive at ZeniMax. “A true visionary and friend, who believed in people and that together they can achieve anything. He was an exceptional leader and an even better person.” For example, Altman sent weekly emails to employees during the corona pandemic to stay in touch with everyone in the company.

Altman’s son James adds that Altman had a reputation as a “master of the boardroom” but at the same time could email anyone in the company if he had spare baseball tickets and always emailed back in minutes if someone sent him an email. “I asked him politely if there wasn’t a better use of his time and if he couldn’t leave the emails to someone else. To which he replied: no, I prefer to do it myself. I like the personal touch and besides I’d love to hear from everyone.”

In 1984, Altman marries actress Lynda Carter, who is best known for her role as Wonder Woman in the TV series of the same name, but also voiced several Elder Scroll games, including the character Azura, and for Fallout 4. In addition to Carter, Altman two children behind.

Robert Altman, Photo: Bethesda