QuakeCon 2010 kicked off in its customary way today with a keynote address from id Software president Todd Hollenshead and chief technical officer John Carmack. However, rather than leading off the show with news related to id's lineup of games, it was parent company ZeniMax Media that took the stage to announce its latest acquisition, Arkane Studios.

　　Arkane entered the scene in 2002 with Arx Fatalis. id and Bethesda Game Studios' newest sister company is perhaps best known for its role-playing game Arx Fatalis, which earned critical acclaim upon its release for the PC in 2002. The Lyon, France-based outfit also handled the original edition of Ubisoft's Dark Messiah of Might and Magic for the PC, which debuted to a tepid reception in 2006. Most recently, Arkane assisted 2K Marin with the single-player campaign for the well-regarded BioShock 2, which was released in February.

　　Along with announcing the acquisition, ZeniMax said that Arkane was currently at work on an unannounced project, to be published by Bethesda Softworks. No details on the project--such as genre, platforms, or release date--were revealed.

　　Arkane's mystery title joins a number of other in-development works under ZeniMax's umbrella. Games to be published by Bethesda Softworks include Splash Damage's Brink, Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas, and inXile's Hunted: The Demon's Forge. The publisher is also rumored to be at work on a massively multiplayer online installment in the Elder Scrolls franchise. As for id, the studio's announced projects include Rage and Doom 4.