In recent news, publication site The Telegraph struck up an interview with the SVP of global marketing and communications of Bethesda, Pete Hines, about Bethesda Game Studios road-map moving forward and what next-generation games will cost and bring to the games industry.
By now, most fans of the publishing division known as Bethesda Softworks and the developing branch known as Bethesda Game Studios should know of the announcements at E3 2018 that is Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI. With that being said, both games are billed to be “next-gen” titles.
In addition to the above, the telegraph.co.uk wanted to know why the team revealed both games so soon. Hines response lies below:
“It was a couple of things. Number one we were honestly a little tired of being asked about Elder Scrolls VI. And the Starfield trademark filing and dancing around those things. Elder Scrolls VI we didn’t really dance around, we said ‘yes we’re going to do it but there are two games to come first’. But that didn’t really catch on and we still had people asking when are you going to do it. And part of it was because Fallout 76 was a departure for them and saying ‘look, we want to try something very different than what we’ve done before’.
We want to make it very clear to folks that this isn’t what all Bethesda Game Studios look like now. The next game we are making is Starfield. It is a new IP, it’s a single-player role playing game that folks understand. And then we’re going to make Elder Scrolls VI.
They understand the context that this is something different but we want to try it. You guys are constantly asking us about multiplayer and playing with other folks, so we want to try that. But then we are going to go back to something you know us better for and we’ll get around to The Elder Scrolls VI. It just helps paint a better picture and a road-map for what’s next and what that’s going to look like. Even if that doesn’t come with a date of when that game is going to come out or when we’ll show it to you.”
In other words, the announcements of the two next-gen games paved a road-map as to what Bethesda Game Studios (development department) will bring fans moving forward. Additionally, this means that fans now know a multiplayer game in the form of Fallout 76 is coming first (this November), and after that is Starfield with The Elder Scrolls VI topping off the company’s current road-map.
Since the interview shifted to next-gen games, the publication site wanted to know with Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI in mind, what he expects from the next generation consoles and if he has any sharable insight? Hines added:
“I am curious to see what it looks like and how it’s different. I’m privy to some stuff which obviously I can’t really talk about, but there is also a lot that I’m not sure on what it’s going to look like. And more importantly how big a shift we can expect.
I feel like there was a shift from Xbox and PS2 to Xbox 360 and PS3 that was pretty demonstrable. Because we went from the old way to HD and the HD thing was so dramatic. It was night and day. Then you went to Xbox One and PS4 and it wasn’t like ‘woah’. The graphics folks that are super into it can certainly tell, but to the average consumer they were like ok it still looks good. How much of that will change, I don’t know. The rest of it doesn’t matter to me because I’m not drawing art or coding or designing. What really matters is what the developers think. What do they need and what are the kind of power and features they are looking for.”
Although Hines is knowledgeable of some things going on behind the next-gen scene, he still is wondering about it too. However, he feels that there was a shift from the OG Xbox and PS2 to the Xbox 360 and PS3 and not so much from the Xbox 360 and PS3 to the Xbox One and PS4, and it seems that he wants the next shift to help developers.
Lastly, he was asked about next-gen game prices and his thoughts on the upcoming move, to which he replied:
“Games now are so diverse that to say the cost of all games are going up is a little too broad. To make big triple A games like Starfield is not cheap. It never was. The team sizes are certainly bigger. Hell, back on Morrowind that team was 35 people. That’s not even close to the size on Fallout 76. But then you have a game like Legends which has a significantly smaller team than a lot of these other things. So it depends on what the game is and the size and the scope of it.”
In other words, he’s saying that just because a game is labeled “next-gen” doesn’t mean it will be expensive or should call for a higher price point. Instead, it depends on how it is made. However, he notes games that are really big like Starfield will be expensive.
If you don’t want to register to read the whole interview between publication site The Telegraph and Hines, you can hit up yahoo.com.
