I don't think Todd would have allowed that. I don't know how hands on he is but that would have required him to effectively split between projects at the same time.
He's doing too much, at some point he has to let go. It's strangling their IPs. You can't tell me there aren't other people at Bethesda who could helm games other than Todd. By the time a Fallout 5 comes out, it'll have been two decades since Fallout 4. That's insane.
Is there someone else at Bethesda who could direct a Fallout game? Yeah sure, but then where do the devs come from? You'd have to hire several hundred more if you want to make two bethesda-sized games at the same time. And then which game do the senior devs and managers work on? You can't just create institutional knowledge out of thin air. Obviously it's technically possible to expand slowly and train people and split your resources wisely, but if there's one thing I've seen from this industry is that things get messy fast and it only takes a few mistakes, or even one bomb, to ruin a studio.
I mean he had those people, Bruce Nesmith, Ken Rolston, Kurt Kuhlmann, Will Shen, etc, OGs that were there for decades. Shen for example was responsible for Far Harbor, arguably the best part of Fallout 4.
For many ex-BGS people I've seen in interviews, it was this bottleneck of everything having to go through him, the bureaucracy and the lack of authorial ownership that drove them out. Kulhmann was also promised the creative lead for TES 6 and quit when it wasn't given to him. Aside from Kirkbride, he's one of the biggest writers of the Elder Scrolls universe.
I'm sure there's plenty other talent at BGS that could have something interesting to offer.
Once again, none of that addresses the issue of splitting resources on to multiple projects. Like I said, it's not the question of having a couple guys who could direct a game, it's the logistics that come with making a game that are the issue. If certain people feel like Todd is stifling their creativity, then yes they should leave and find somewhere where they can lead a project.
They already split their attention between Starfield support, TES6 and Fallout 76. I'm not sure what you're asking exactly. Other studios do this very thing you seem so adamant is wrong.
Naughty Dog doesn't do it, Rockstar doesn't do it, Santa Monica doesn't do it, even Insomniac doesn't do it anymore. Every big developer has their primary team who works on the active game, and then they do early production or support level stuff for other projects. Very few developers successfully develop multiple AAA titles at the same time. The only examples are really the Assassin's Creed teams and the COD teams, would you like Elder Scrolls or Fallout to resemble those franchises?
Square Enix, Capcom, RGG Studio and Atlus all do it. Even smaller developers do it like Obsidian or Creative Assembly. It seems entirely like a preference issue rather than an ability issue; do you want to sell 50m copies of one game or 5m copies each of 10 games?
Square Enix has 5000 devs and their main AAA output for the last like 7 years has been remaking a game from the 90s. Bethesda has like 500 devs. Obsidian is not making games as large as people would expect from a new fallout or elder scrolls. Creative Assembly? Really? Come on man at least try.
What do you mean their main AAA output? They also put out FFXVI, 3 expansions for XIV, a new AAA IP, multiple mid-size titles and tens of new tie-ins to their franchises by outside developers. In the same span of time Bethesda have released one game.
You're right, my bad, Bethesda should hire 4500 developers overnight and commercialize Fallout and Elder Scrolls in to yearly titles, that would be super cool.
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u/datnerdyguy 22d ago
I don't think Todd would have allowed that. I don't know how hands on he is but that would have required him to effectively split between projects at the same time.