Pete Hines

In a year with Microsoft launching Forza Motorsport, Hi-Fi Rush andStarfield, it’s crazy that Redfall also exists. Released in May 2023 to an overwhelmingly negative response, its player base is almost non-existent, even with the recent Title Update, which adds the long-awaited 60 FPS Performance Mode.

Bethesda has provided a small update on The Elder Scrolls 6.

Say what you will about Starfield, but there’s no denying the hype around Bethesda Game Studios’ next big title, The Elder Scrolls 6. In a tweet celebrating 30 years of the franchise, the developer confirmed that it’s “playing early builds” of the eagerly-awaited sequel.

When launched exclusively on Xbox and PC on September 6, 2023 — following a week of Early Access for special edition owners -many wondered if Bethesda's space ARPG would ever come to the PlayStation 5 as well. Following several rumors that Microsoft was planning to make some of its Xbox-exclusive titles multiplatform, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has addressed whether will be among them.

In case you missed it, Microsoft made an industry-shaking acquisition at the tail end of last year, buying up Activision Blizzard King for an eye-watering $69 billion. It took a long time to close, though, because of intense scrutiny from a handful of different sources — one of those being the USA's Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Now, in the wake of Microsoft cutting thousands of jobs, the FTC is back on the company's case, accusing it of contradicting statements made in court about how the business would operate post-acquisition.

Barely containing his inner nerd as he lifted the curtain on the gameplay reveal for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Todd Howard explains that he's had almost everything about the game, down to granular plot points, planned out for years. 

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The title for Bethesda's upcoming Indiana Jones game from developer MachineGames might very well have been discovered.

Long-time Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick is leaving the company following its acquisition by Microsoft in October. Kotick will depart on 29th December, with Microsoft largely keeping the company’s core leadership intact outside of this.

Long-time Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick is leaving the company following its acquisition by Microsoft in October. Kotick will depart on 29th December, with Microsoft largely keeping the company’s leadership intact outside of this.

Bethesda reportedly turned down multiple proposals from Obsidian to develop more Fallout games as well as The Elder Scrolls spin-offs.

Bethesda has delayed Fallout 4’s PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC update to 2024.

Microsoft’s high-profile legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the fate of its $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard unearthed a number of explosive revelations, among them the fact Microsoft renegotiated ZeniMax's deal with Disney to make Bethesda's upcoming Indiana Jones game exclusive to Xbox and PC, thus ditching the PlayStation 5 version.

Amazon has released the first trailer for its upcoming Fallout TV series.

After a stellar career at Housemarque, Harry Krueger is ready to move on to the next adventure in his life.

Redfall's next game update is here, but if you were hoping that this new patch would roll out the option to play offline, you would be disappointed.

Stop for a second and picture your favorite video game developer or publisher. It doesn’t matter their “scale” as long as they’re prominent. More than likely, you can name-drop at least one or two people who are the “faces” of that company. For example, Nintendo has Eiji Aonuma, Shigeru Miyamoto, Doug Bowser, etc. Microsoft has Phil Spencer, Sony has/had Jim Ryan, and on it goes. For Bethesda, they have/had many people who have helped define them over the years for one reason or another. Easily, the one that most people know is Todd Howard. He’s the guy who honestly makes the biggest announcements for the company and helps crank out their best games.

Just a couple of weeks after finishing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is making some changes to its Xbox studio structure. In an internal memo acquired by The Verge, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty is being promoted to president of game content and studios, a role that will put him in charge of ZeniMax and its subsidiary studios, including Bethesda Softworks.

Microsoft has announced a reorganisation of its Xbox leadership team, bringing closer integration with Bethesda and parent company ZeniMax.

Xbox has made changes to its leadership team, with notable promotions for Sarah Bond and Matt Booty.

Former Skyrim lead designer Bruce Nesmith left Bethesda, and his updated role as senior systems designer, partway through Starfield's development, so he was as surprised as the rest of us when the massive space RPG was released in remarkably good condition. 

In case you’ve somehow missed it, GamesBeat is holding its Next event early next week in San Francisco. As always, I’ll be there, probably in a costume of some kind, to participate. If you’re interested in seeing what the future of games looks like and what some of the most interesting new ideas in the industry are shaping into, then come and join us! I’ll be moderating the Women in Gaming breakfast panel with several exceptional women in the industry, as well as a panel on mixed reality ahead of the Apple Vision Pro. Registration is still open here.

As Starfield developers begin to depart Bethesda after the release of the studio's massive RPG, some fans are despondently casting their minds forward to the eventual departure of studio lead Todd Howard.

Pete Hines isn’t the only major departure from Bethesda Softworks. Will Shen, lead quest designer and design director on Starfield, has also announced that he’s leaving the studio. He’ll join Something Weird Games, a studio of former talent from BioWare, Bethesda and Obsidian Entertainment, to work on Wyrdsong, their debut RPG.

Long-time Bethesda staffer Pete Hines is departing the company after 24 years.

Pete Hines, Bethesda’s head of publishing, announced today he’s retiring and leaving the game company. The executive, who’s been with Bethesda since 1999, said that he feels the launch of Starfield marks an endpoint of his career, and that he plans to take “more time to enjoy life.”

It's not cool when a retailer leak blows a big game announcement. Just ask Bethesda, which saw its surprise Rage 2 announcement spoiled by an errant Walmart Canada listing. (I bet Pete Hines is still steamed about that.) But you know what might be even more frustrating? When your own gear store does it.

Pete Hines, the Senior Vice President of Publishing for Bethesda Softworks, announced his retirement today on social media. The gaming executive has worked at the publisher for 24 years, helping to bring to life a multitude of games across the decades.

Pete Hines, head of publishing at Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Starfield studio Bethesda, is retiring. One of the most public faces at the developer behind perhaps only Toddy H himself, Hines has played a prominent role in the release of their biggest games for close to the last quarter-of-a-century - but says that the “time is right” to move on to “an exciting new chapter of my life”.

Pete Hines, Bethesda Softworks’ senior VP and head of publishing, is retiring. In a recent statement, Hines said he will begin “an exciting new chapter of my life exploring interests and passions, donating my time where I can, and taking more time to enjoy life.” He noted that it wasn’t a decision that came “easily or quickly” but after “an amazing career” and following the successful launch of Starfield, he felt “like the time is right.”

Bethesda's head of publishing, Pete Hines, has announced that he will be leaving the company.

After nearly a quarter century of helping lead Bethesda Softworks, Pete Hines, the company's head of publishing and one of its most recognizable faces, has announced that he is leaving the company and retiring from the videogame industry.

After 24 years at Bethesda, industry veteran Pete Hines has announced his retirement. He explains that he came to this decision after a long and successful career that culminated with the launch of Starfield, and he feels that it is the right time to bow out.

Bethesda's head of publishing Pete Hines has announced his retirement.

By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

Pete Hines, Bethesda's head of publishing, has announced his intention to retire from the company.

Just over a month since the launch of Starfield, Pete Hines, Bethesda’s head of publishing, is retiring from the Skyrim, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls maker to begin a “new chapter.” Hines, whose credits include every major Bethesda release since Morrowind in 2002, says the decision to retire is not one that he came to “easily or quickly,” but that following the launch of Starfield, “the time is right.”

Pete Hines, one of the key executives at Bethesda Softworks, has announced his retirement from the company.

Pete Hines, Bethesda Softworks’ head of publishing, has announced that he’s stepping down from his role to retire, after 24 years at the company. 

Bethesda exec Pete Hines has announced his retirement after 24 years at the company, just weeks after Starfield's launch.

Pete Hines, head of publishing at Bethesda Softworks and the second-most prominent face of the company that makes Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Starfield, is retiring. Hines announced his departure from Bethesda on Monday after 24 years with the company, indicating that he was exiting the gaming industry.

Bethesda Softworks senior vice president and head of publishing has announced his decision to retire after 24 years at the company.

Pete Hines is leaving Bethesda after 24 years.

Bethesda’s head of publishing, Pete Hines, is leaving the company after nearly 25 years of employment, he’s announced.

Redfall was one of the big exclusives that Microsoft was pushing this year. It was a game to hopefully tie players over until their next major release, Starfield. However, critics and fans alike tore it to pieces when the game launched. There wasn’t enough substance to persuade players to continue logging in. Also, more than a few bugs made the game unappealing for those considering the game purchase or download from Xbox Game Pass. However, Arkane was not giving up on this title, and most recently, we saw a new update land on the game.

When Redfall launched earlier this year, one of the most highly requested features was adding an option to play the Xbox Series X/S version at 60 frames per second - and that request has finally been granted.

Bethesda has released a promised 60fps update for Arkane’s Redfall, and made changes to the game’s combat and gameplay.

Interest in vampire-hunting co-op shooter Redfall has dwindled to the extent that the game's concurrent Steam player count is now regularly dropping to single digits. At times, the number of players has been so low that there aren't even enough people to fill a single full four-player co-op team.

With a dwindling player count, a promised 60fps patch still not out, and months of silence from its developer, Redfall may be on its last legs.

The number of concurrent players of Redfall on Steam has dropped so low that it now reaches single figures every day.

Bethesda has shadow dropped a new mobile game set in the Elder Scrolls universe.

In news that isn't likely to be much of a surprise to anyone at this point, a newly unearthed Microsoft court document has confirmed The Elder Scrolls 6 won't be making its way to PlayStation when it eventually shows up in 2026 or beyond.

According to a new court document revealed from the FTC v. Microsoft case, The Elder Scrolls 6 is expected to be released sometime during or after 2026, and is seemingly planned to be released solely on PC and Xbox (via The Verge). 

Bethesda games have courted modders for decades at this point and the developer’s space epic, Starfield, is no different. But despite already receiving several handy mods just a week after launch, the game won’t be receiving official mod support until next year. 

With Starfield now out, modders are already beginning to use the tools that they have at their disposal to improve and change the massive sci-fi RPG in a number of ways. And of course, this being a Bethesda RPG, there’s plenty of excitement surrounding what will be possible once the game’s full modding toolset is at the disposal of the community.

Microsoft’s head of gaming has addressed the subject of whether The Elder Scrolls 6 will be an Xbox exclusive.

Bethesda is celebrating its successful launch of Starfield into the marketplace. The video game was quite a massively anticipated title for fans. Likewise, this is Bethesda’s first new RPG in a very long time. So having a new franchise, a new exclusive for Xbox, and after years of developing the game, finally crossing the finish line for the game development is likely allowing the folks from Bethesda to enjoy a bit of a break. However, even with this latest game that just launched into the marketplace, there are questions about what awaits next. For instance, we know that the next game under Bethesda would be The Elder Scrolls 6.

All eyes might currently be on BigOl'Spacegame, but there's plenty more happening behind-the-scenes at Bethesda, one of those things obviously being MachineGames' Indiana Jones project — which, depending how you choose to interpret four words from Bethesda's Todd Howard, might just be gearing up for a proper reveal next year.

Bethesda’s Todd Howard has discussed the benefits of Starfield being an Xbox console exclusive.

Bethesda development chief Todd Howard has discussed the benefits of Starfield being Xbox exclusive, namechecking the brand association Nintendo enjoys with its first party games.

«There will be people ten years from now who are going to join Game Pass, and Redfall will be there.»

«We could make a safer, less buggy, less risky game if we wanted to» harrumphed Pete Hines last week, talking about Starfield while claiming Bethesda's reputation for buggy games is undeserved. But, you see, that reputation is deserved and that's why we love them. A wise friend once observed to me that everyone talks about Skyrim in terms of grand adventure and epic storytelling, whereas for him it was a game about fly-tipping cows down mountains and watching the physics scramble to cope.

While Bethesda may have hit a slam dunk with Starfield, the same can hardly be said about Arkane Studios’ Redfall. Having launched just a few months prior to Starfield, Redfall was met with a wall of well-warranted critique. Yet, according to Bethesda’s head of publishing, the book hasn’t yet closed on Redfall.

There’s been a bad trend in video games over the last several years that gamers are truly tired of. We’re speaking of developers launching titles that aren’t ready for release and then expecting gamers to play them, buy them, or stay with them despite their “buggy states.” An excellent example of this is Redfall. The game by Arkane Studios, who had an excellent track record before this title, was an unmitigated disaster due to how buggy and boring the game was at launch. The title was dead on arrival, and it’s stayed that way ever since.

Bethesda's head of publishing, Pete Hines, has said that game bugs are inevitable and they ultimately allow the studio to lean into player freedom. 

Bethesda’s head of publishing, Pete Hines, has affirmed that Arkane’s co-op FPS Redfall won’t be abandoned, and that “we're going to get it to be a good game”. 

Bethesda‘s head of publishing Pete Hines says the company will make Redfall “a good game”, despite an underwhelming reception at launch.

Bethesda Game Studios’ titles have always had a reputation for being technically rough, buggy games, and though Starfield is very clearly the most polished a BGS game has been at launch in a long, long time, it still has its fair share of technical hiccups.

One Starfield bug was apparently so much fun that Bethesda's studio head asked the game's developers not to fix it.

Pete Hines, publishing head at Bethesda Softworks, has stated that the company has no plans to give up on Redfall, and that the game will become good down the line with updates bringing in improvements. The company hopes to raise the quality of the game to the same extent as it has other titles like The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76.

Microsoft Corp. shot for the sky with Starfield, its ambitious new space role-playing video game, and so far it looks like a decent bet.

Bethesda Softworks publishing head Pete Hines has reassured players that Arkane isn't giving up on Redfall, despite its lukewarm reception on launch earlier this year. In fact, he's confident it will be a good game people want to play on Game Pass ten years from now.

With Starfield's long-awaited launch upon us, Bethesda has been doing the media rounds to chat about the upcoming RPG. The studio has released a few buggy games in its history, so a question was eventually raised about the bug in the room – a timely subject with Starfield already releasing via pre-order early access. 

Bethesda games like Skyrim and Fallout are known for being epic open world RPGs and for being a bit buggy, but these smaller issues in Starfield also allowed the game to be so grand according to one developer.

Never has a Bethesda game been released without at least a few bugs. We all know how it goes… we either cease to play Skyrim because our AI companions won’t stop running into traps, or we embrace the wonderful weirdness and turn it into streaming content. And it’s not just us players who feel the need to cut Bethesda games some slack for their shortcomings.

Bethesda's Senior VP of Global Marketing and Communications, Pete Hines, wants people to skip sleep and stay up in order to play Starfield.

A quick heads-up for those you hopping aboard the Starfield interstellar express today: there is a non-zero possibility that one of the game's elevators has a shark in it. That's according to Bethesda's head of publishing Pete Hines, who encountered the displaced piscine trouble-maker while playing the game before release. He's "almost positive" the shark isn't there any more - and just like that, my understanding of Starfield has been transformed. This isn't a 150 hour RPG treadmill of resource extraction, artefact investigation and base-building, wherein you give spaceship tours and put +5% on your accuracy, or what-have-you. It's an extremely slowburn horror game, with every innocent elevator potentially housing a Great White jumpscare. All of which, Hines feels, is true to how Bethesda "embraces chaos" in their games, though he does feel the company's popular association with jank and bugs isn't "particularly fair".

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Starfield might not even be out yet, but head of publishing Pete Hines has confirmed that The Elder Scrolls 6 is now in early development at Bethesda Game Studios. This news comes five years after the game was announced at E3 2018.

There is a lot to do in Starfield, whether you want to build ships, live a life of crime, or maybe just be a good guy going through space. With all that customization, it can be easy to get lost in the sauce and confused by many of the options.