It’s been a busy few weeks for Bethesda Softworks and its parent company ZeniMax Media. The biggest news is that they werepurchased for $7.5 billion by Microsoft, basically giving the Xbox brand exclusive access to a ton of high profile IPs likeDOOM,Wolfenstein,Fallout,The Elder Scrolls, and much more. On the flip side, this acquisition gives Bethesda access to new resources and money to assist in developing future games and the tools needed to bring them to life. While many of Bethesda’s projects are still years away, Todd Howard has opened up regarding a few new details fans can expect.
During this year’s Develop: Brighton Digital conference, the keynote session featured Todd Howard and his career to this point at Bethesda. During the hour long session, Howard delved into his beginnings as a developer and his start at Bethesda, discussing the numerous games made there, and some of the decisions made for various franchises likeThe Elder ScrollsandFallout. However, towards the end of the interview, Howard touched on the future of the studio and upcoming titles likeStarfield.
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The biggest confirmation from Todd Howard is that Starfield will ditch theFallout 76model and instead be a completely single player experience like Bethesda’s older titles. There were not multiplayer components or aspects included in the experience. In terms of bothStarfieldandThe Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda is aiming to give NPCs a larger role and make cities expansive and larger compared to previous games.
What also may excite fans is the confirmation that the Creation Engine has largely been overhauled for the next set of games. While rumors indicated atan engine change based from LinkedIn listings, Howard confirmed that the team has completely redone things like rending, character animations, procedural map generation, as well as artificial intelligence, and pathing. According to Howard, the technology jump is massive and even larger than the one made fromMorrowindtoOblivion.
While this information may excite fans, Howard went on to confirm thatStarfieldis still a far ways off. There’s also the lingering question of whether or notStarfield, as well asThe Elder Scrolls 6, will ultimately arrive on rival platforms now that Bethesda is a Microsoft first party studio. It’s a question that remains unanswered even by people in charge like Phil Spencer, leaving fans to speculate and hope that the traditionally multi-platform games will remain so. Analysts continue to believe thatthese games will remain multi-platform, giving Microsoft an even bigger reach and way to accumulate profit.
Starfieldis in development.
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