Today, Bethesda moved to assure fans that its next games, Fallout 5 and Elder Scrolls VI, are still moving forward.
Microsoft’s absolutely massive cuts to its Xbox division have left fans wondering if the remaining developers are enough to reproduce the kind of quality we expect at the AAA level. DOOM studio id Software sent a note to fans yesterday on the topic, and now Bethesda has followed up with theirs.
Bethesda said it is still working on Fallout 5 and The Elder Scrolls VI, along with new content for Starfield. The firm also revealed that Obsidian’s Fallout project has been greenlit. and that the fans of Fall 76 and The Elder Scrolls online We can also expect new content in the coming months.
I had the opportunity to speak with studio head Todd Howard about how Bethesda is navigating this unprecedented time in the gaming industry and how the studio hopes to emerge in the future.
“Very difficult, very difficult for our teams.”
I asked Todd Howard how the studio is doing, given the Xbox cuts. Many Bethesda, Obsidian, id Software, and other veterans across the Xboxosphere have been laid off in recent weeks, alarming fans and industry experts alike.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, whenever you’ve worked with people, in some cases, for many decades, and they’re no longer here, that’s really very difficult personally and very difficult for our teams.”
Howard recalled other difficult periods in Bethesda’s tenure, highlighting its struggle to achieve major success in the ’90s before Morrowind. And also before the Xbox acquisition, where Bethesda was under pressure to produce mobile games and multiplayer service titles as tastes changed.
“If I think back, and people hear me say this internally, Bethesda will be 40 years old this year. There have been difficult periods, I see Bethesda 1.0 from ’86 to ’99. I was there for that. We had to change who we were and how we did some things at that time. And then we became ZeniMax and did a lot of things, and then we had to change again in 2016. Moving to different studios… how do we support this? franchises?
“I think we’re in another moment of change in the way we support each other and what we do with these games and for our fans.”
Finding optimism in an uncertain gaming industry
I asked Todd Howard how he stays optimistic given the way the video game industry is changing. More young users are choosing Roblox over traditional gaming options, for example, and big companies have come under increasing pressure to find mega-hits to stay afloat in the face of inflation, tariffs, the memory crisis and other problems.
“In the industry as a whole, this is not an Xbox comment, really. You know, you see it happening throughout the gaming industry.” Todd explained. “So it’s a broader industry question: setting levels, figuring out how some things will work in the future.”
“If I step back from the video game industry, I look at who was nominated for Game of the Year last year. As someone in the industry, I was very proud of that list and what it says about what’s being created and creativity. There were periods where a lot of the games became similar. You worry about things like, ‘Will adventure games ever have a home in the future, or this or that, will this type of game be successful?’ And so on. And from a creative point of view, in terms of the content that is being created. “As a player he’s been really good.”
Todd Howard said he doesn’t generally use social media, but he says he reads comments about reddit to know the layout of the land. He said seeing the quality of work his teams are putting out fuels his optimism, as Bethesda looks toward Fallout 5, The Elder Scrolls VI and beyond.
“I think I have the benefit of being able to work (in the games industry), I see the work that we are doing. So I can be there with the team and see the passion, see us channel how we do better every week. Creating games that we love. It’s easy for me to be optimistic when I look at the work.”
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