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Skyrim was 2011. Fallout 4 was 2015. Starfield was 2023. Development cycles are growing longer all across the industry, but for Bethesda in particular, it's felt like the company has really struggled to create a consistent pipeline — especially in the last decade or so. This is even more apparent when you factor in projects like The Elder Scrolls 6, which was barely a concept when it was first announced in 2018.
But now that Bethesda is under the Microsoft umbrella, you've got to imagine that the outfit is undergoing big changes behind the scenes. After all, the developer's games have historically sold incredibly well — especially in the case of Skyrim — and the suits will want to see the smash hits happen more and more often.
Apparently, these extensive development cycles are exactly the issue that Bethesda is trying to fix. Speaking to Kinda Funny Games (as reported by VGC), Bethesda boss Todd Howard said: "You know, [the games] do take a long time, and so I think one of the things we’re focused on here is obviously making sure they’re of the highest quality, but also finding ways to increase our output, because we don’t want to wait that long either."
He continues: "If I could snap my fingers and have them all be out and ready, I would, but the main thing is how do we deliver these at a high quality level – that’s always the most important." Of course, you're bound to see people jabbing at this comment given that the developer has a... reputation for releasing very buggy titles, but you get the point that Howard's trying to make.
We can't help but think that Bethesda's stuck in a shaky situation — and has been for the better part of a decade. Its games tend to adhere to a specific open world blueprint, but as evidenced by Starfield, that blueprint is really starting to show its age. The genre has moved on massively since the release of Fallout 4 in 2015, and it feels like Bethesda has spent a long time playing catch-up, only to still find itself behind the curve.
With that in mind, it's hard to picture an efficient solution to these problems. Does it finally have to move away from the fundamental engine that it's been using and modifying since Morrowind? Maybe enlisting third-party studios is the answer? It'll be interesting to see how Bethesda, and its IP, is managed over the next few years.
What do you think the future holds for Bethesda and its games? Don't spend too long waiting for The Elder Scrolls 6 in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 38
Maybe shoot for some smaller games first.
Go outside the wheelhouse and develop something that isn't a new Fallout or Elder Scrolls.
Or maybe make a different kind of game in these franchises.
How about an Elder Scrolls belt-scrolling brawler?
Missile-Command Style using Fallout (destroy the nukes!)
Turn-based pixel RPG of something.
Or just a new IP that doesn't use Creation Engine at all!
Well i suppose the timeframe between ES6 and ES7 wont be as long as between 5 and 6 then.... but thats hardly an achievement...
More bugs as well please.
Sure they must be fuming at the fact they won’t have a Fallout prepared for YEARS given the success of the show.
As others have said, I think they need to create an original IP outside of the open world formula. Get some extra money and awareness along with experience to go towards their bigger IPs.
Well, they've already cut QA out of the development cycle so it is difficult to see what else they could cut to shorten cycles.
Joking btw, love you Todd (gimme Skyrim VR2 please).
I would rather we never ever get another Fallout if it is going to be another typical broken Bethesda game running on the same tired crappy old engine.
And just so we are clear here: the fact that Fallout 4 is ten years old is not an excuse for its severe levels of jank because so is GTA5 and that is still a technical marvel to this day which is made even more impressive by the fact that it is technically a PS3 game. Bethesda releases games that are born old.
I was like 20 when i played ES5 at midnight 11/11/11. I’ll probably be 40 by the time we get an ES6 gameplay trailer.
They should let Obsidian take care of the Fallout series. They were given a year and a half for New Vegas and I'd say it's still the fan favourite. They deserved those bonuses they never got.
I get what he's saying, but I just can't trust anything Todd Howard says.
They'll shorten the development time, but at what cost? They already have a lot of time to release a game and yet it still has dated gameplay elements and littered with more bugs then Starship Troopers.
So then we all agree it's time to ditch the Creation Engine? I understand it's a good engine for modders, however none of that matters when your updates kill mods anyway.
The problem with Starfield was that it lacked the most important element of what made Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim so special...that feeling of being able to go off in any direction and find hours worth of adventures completely independent of the main quest.
It also didn't help developing projects like Fallout 76 and Starfield back-to-back. Neither of those projects generate the excitement (or sales) that single-player TES or Fallout games do, so having those games end up as stinkers makes the wait seem longer than it should be.
Yeah CDPR has really kind of taken the crown from them for this type of RPG for me. Sure CDPR has made mistakes as well but at least they don't leave their games barely functional and just count on modders to fix everything.
Cyberpunk 2077 eventually became a truly great RPG. Fallout 4 still has bugs in the PS5 version from the PS4 release...almost a decade later.
Bethesda was delivering great stuff back during the PS3, but really suffered from poor decisions or poor growth choices (acquiring a bunch of studios and publishing) during PS4 era.
They really fell behind in the RPG scene and need a total refresh to their approach. They were my favorite developer during PS3 and it's sad to see.
Crazy to think that it'll likely be close to 20 years between Elder Scrolls games.
Pure ass-covering BS from Howard, who knows his style of micromanaging a small-ish team makes no financial sense for the Fallout IP's new owner.
Microsoft has a duty to its shareholders to get a new dev on a multiplatform Fallout game ASAP.
Nothing they can do. Quality & Speed, one would have to suffer, unless they wanna work overtime and get accused for crunch.
You don’t say? They should have been thinking of making better narratives and advancing the genre since always. They knew the expectations for ES6 within a week of ES5 being released, and that’s letting them be late.
AI could probably whip one up in a week
Poor bethesda, you score the biggest rpg in Skyrim then fallout, and then you sold your souls to Microsoft. Now soulless, you struggled to make Starfield and now come to the realization that you need help.
Just sad at what they’ve become.
@EchoRange they aren't bugs they are features ... lol
@Ludacritz You are 100% right but what they really want is to get at least one new Fallout while the series exists and its loved. Obsidian recently said it could be on the cards after grounded, their new game of this year and outer worlds 2. So just for the sake of why they are saying this now it would be too late for the hype (maybe).
The simple solution is MS should give a job to a lot more people so they could work on Fallout under the supervision of Bethesda and or Obsidian but being simple doesn't mean it is easy and most likely they won't do it because talent people doesn't mean the right people.
The clock is ticking, I love Jonathan Nolan work but Westworld went from being the best series on tv in season 1 and 2 to one of the worst in season 3 and 4 so Fallout has at least one more excellent season left. If they want to ride the hype is now or never.
Kinda funny how people in this thread seems to forget, that there is probably only a small chance that new Fallout and Elders Scrolls games will even release on PS5.
Sure Microsoft are trying out smaller titles on PS5/Switch right now, but who says they will even be that successful.
They have to port them which cost money (plus there's the "little" issue of having to pay a 30% cut to the platform holder, that they won't have to on Xbox itself).
@Bunchesopuppies "you sold your souls to Microsoft"
They didn't sell their soul... They didn't own their soul, Zenimax did, and that who sold it to Microsoft.
I can't imagine with all of the CRPG studios under Microsoft's umbrella now that we won't see some non-Bethesda Fallout games in the future. Elder Scrolls, I'm not so sure, since that is their baby.
It seems like 20 years could pass, Rip Van Winkle could have awakened, and we would still be waiting for Fallout 5 and ES6. No GTA 7 yet either, but the remastered definitive special edition of GTA 6 is available for the just released PS8.
They should remaster New Vegas and Fallout 3.
@Ludacritz Would probably sell well with the popularity of the show. Will be a while before Fallout 5 sees the light of day. Could even put them on Switch. Seems like a no brainer, but who knows if common sense will prevail at Bethesda.
@Ludacritz it’s in the leaked documents from the Activision merger that Bethesda has a remaster of Fallout 3 planned, but how far has it been developed? I’m hoping Xbox gave them the juice to get things done at a quicker pace.
@NoCode23 Would we have Metroid Prime 4 by then though or still waiting?
@tangyzesty starfield may not be exactly what everyone wanted, but to call it a stinker is very disingenuous and flat out wrong. It’s still better then 90 percent of games.
@Adol-Bannings no, it's not better than 90% of games in my opinion. You can speak for yourself, but I'm still calling it a stinker
Well your a spit for brains if you think starfield is a flat out stinker. You do you have a fantastic day. And rest of your week.
"[...] but the main thing is how do we deliver these at a high quality level – that’s always the most important."
Yeah. High quality level. I don't know about any development of videogames. But maybe give up your creation engine.
@Korgon Cyberpunk is definetly not an RPG.
@PerpetualBoredom
...yes it is. 🙁
@Korgon action rpg is what cdpr themselves say, feels more like a fps story with rpg mechanics. I'm one of the sore disgruntled first day players who had it refunded and haven't touched it since. False marketing hurt me bad.
Still happy for everyone who digs, was just not my piece of cake (expected chocolate, got raisins)
I’d say their ghetto engine causes more problems than it solves these days. Most of Starfield’s questionable reception was due mainly to the Creation engine being some ghetto nonsense and feeling like it’s straight out of the PS3/360 era. Which is basic framework is from that era so that makes sense.
@Adol-Bannings a spit for brains? Damn I must have touched a nerve for you to bring out the big guns. I'm sorry you are so sensitive about your stinker of a game.
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