It’s pretty well known that Bethesda nearly had a voiced protagonist in Starfield. The developer decided against it in the end. However, did you know that one of those actors could well have been the voice behind Adam Jensen?
25.10.2023 - 18:23 / gamesradar.com / Todd Howard / Bruce Nesmith / Will
A former Bethesda developer who served as Skyrim's lead designer predicts The Elder Scrolls 6's full reveal will mirror Fallout 4's, in the sense that we probably won't hear much else about the RPG until about six months before launch.
Speaking to MinnMax, Bruce Nesmith, who left Bethesda in 2021, shared some insights into the studio's philosophy toward building hype for games ahead of launch. Apparently, director Todd Howard thinks it's wisest to hold off on sharing a whole lot of details until around that six-month mark.
"The company took years of hits for not talking about The Elder Scrolls 6. Years of hits. Because Todd's opinion – one which I share, by the way – is that the video game industry has short memories. Those companies that start touting their games years ahead of time actually screw themselves. The best time to start talking about it is six months before release."
Now, you might be thinking, but Elder Scrolls 6 was revealed five years ago and isn't due out until at least 2026! Well that's an astute observation, dear reader, and thankfully it's one Nesmith was prepared to answer.
"Only the fact that the pitchforks and torches were out is what got Todd to say, 'yes, we're gonna do The Elder Scrolls 6. I promise you! It's for real! It'll happen!' But I'm betting you won't hear much in the way of details until six months before, which is the way it should be. I think that's the best approach. He's proven that works really well for Bethesda."
It's true that we've heard next to nothing about The Elder Scrolls 6 since it was announced way back at E3 2018. A few bits and bobs have surfaced here and there, like Howard revealing the sequel will build on Starfield's engine, and this cryptic tweet that made fans think it'll be set in Hammerfell, but not a whole lot else. Apparently you can expect it to stay that way for a few more years at least.
Nesmith also agrees Starfield could've focused more on fewer planets, saying "exploration didn't come through as well" as a result of its scope.
It’s pretty well known that Bethesda nearly had a voiced protagonist in Starfield. The developer decided against it in the end. However, did you know that one of those actors could well have been the voice behind Adam Jensen?
The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, released way back in 1996, was the second installment in what went on to become Bethesda’s beloved, genre-defining RPG series, but it sounds like it was a particularly tricky one to get off the launchpad - and that if it hadn’t come together it could have meant the end of the studio itself.
If Todd Howard up and left Bethesda, it would "leave a big hole," says Skyrim's lead designer, insisting that the Starfield director has "an attribute that none of the rest of us did."
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.
One of Starfield's senior developers has been reflecting on the game after launch, revealing in a new interview that they reckon the space RPG could have benefited from going into greater detail on fewer planets. One of the reasons is that "some of the exploration stuff didn't come through as well as it could've."
In Starfield,there's a quest where you get to betray a major player. I'm going to keep the details vague to avoid spoilers, but in a lot of other RPGs this would be a massive story moment. If you walk down this path, you'll never be able to interact with that faction again. You're signing up for this life over that one.
At this point, it’s safe to say that people are ready for The Elder Scrolls 6. While we’re likely still years away from playing it, it feels as though Bethesda will start putting more stock into the Skyrim follow-up now that Starfield is out.
In a recent interview with MinnMax, Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith—whose work as a systems designer can be seen in Starfield—revealed that the company made the decision to announce The Elder Scrolls 6 so early because “pitchforks and torches were out”.
Todd Howard of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3 and 4 fame had apparently told Bethesda that a multiplayer game would be a bad idea. Ultimately, however, pressure from fans convinced him to give multiplayer games a shot, resulting in the release of Fallout 76.
While Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield will still receive support, the studio is pivoting towards its next highly-anticipated title, The Elder Scrolls 6. While it’s gone from pre-production to early development, there’s still a lot we don’t know, from the setting and the mechanics to when it releases. Even Microsoft is unsure about its exclusivity period, though it believes a release some five years down the line is possible.
Bethesda and Todd Howard announced Elder Scrolls 6 when they did because of fan demand, or in the words of Skyrim's lead designer Bruce Nesmith, because «the pitchforks and torches were out».
The Fallout TV series finally has a release date. In a tweet, Amazon Prime Video confirmed that the live-action adaptation of the eponymous Bethesda video game franchise will premiere April 12, 2024, exclusively on the streamer. The news comes in celebration of the annual Fallout Day — October 23 — which marks the day when the retro-futuristic in-game world was turned into a nuclear wasteland, causing survivors to scavenge and live off irradiated junk. HBO's Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are developing the series under their Kilter Films banner — billed as an original story set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles and will be included as Fallout universe canon.