Starfield Lead Quest Designer Leaves Bethesda to Work on Wyrdsong

has been a big success for Bethesda and Microsoft. Not only was it thebest-selling game in the US for September, but it’s also been a significant boon for Game Pass. According to Microsoft, the day of Starfield’s launch set a record for the highest number of new Game Pass subscribers.

In a recent interview with YouTube channel MinnMax, Bethesda veteran Bruce Nesmith touched on Fallout 76's disastrous launch, stating that the team's «hubris caught up» with them. He goes on to say that the studio was starting to talk itself into thinking it was «infallible,» thanks to all the critical acclaim.

Long-time Bethesda Game Studios designer Bruce Nesmith is featured in the latest MinnMax interview, discussing topics from The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall to Starfield.

The Elder Scrolls 6, as nebulous as it might feel, is eventually coming, and Bethesda’s former design director has shared some tidbits on what could be carried over from previous games, including Skyrim’s progression and magic systems.

The Elder Scrolls 6 is going to be a mixture of new ideas and RPG systems that go all the way back to The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, according to Bethesda's former design director Bruce Nesmith, who was lead designer on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and senior designer on Starfield. In particular, Nesmith reckons it will "absolutely" continue with Skyrim's approach to levelling and progression, whereby you improved skills by performing the associated actions. He also thinks the game will "probably" retain elements of the magic system he designed for Skyrim, which broke away from Oblivion and Morrowind in being simpler to understand and more immediately powerful, at the price of flexibility and inventiveness.

It sounds like quite the team of RPG talent is assembling behind upcoming open-world game Wyrdsong, the debut title from newfound studio Something Wicked Games. On top of its existing staff made up of former Bethesda, Obsidian, Respawn and BioWare devs, the lead quest designer for Starfield has joined the team.

Will Shen, who worked on Starfieldas lead quest designer, has left Bethesda to join Something Wicked Games. In his new role, Shen will be the lead content designer on the studio's first game, the open-world fantasy RPG Wyrdsong. 

Will Shen, former lead quest designer for Bethesda's Starfield who worked on other games from the studio, such as Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76, joined Something Wicked games to work on the studio's first open-world RPG.

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.

One of Bethesda's senior developers, Will Shen, who served as the lead quest designer on Starfield, has joined studio Something Wicked Games, which was co-founded by former Bethesda project lead Jeff Gardiner.

Something Wicked Games' stable of notable ex-Bethesda developers is gaining a new member. Will Shen, former design director on Starfield and veteran of Bethesda going all the way back to Fallout 3, is joining the all-remote studio as the lead content designer of Wyrdsong.

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.”