Skyrim - Todd Howard Interview @ Game Informer

Game Informer talked to Todd Howard at the Las Vegas DICE summit earlier this month. They've penned an article covering the bugs that have crept up since its release, whether the title remained true to its original vision, and the game's amazing success, and much more.

A quote about the game's succes

Game Informer: As far as sales goes, Skyrim is the best-selling game in Bethesda history. Is there something about the game from a design standpoint that made it more popular and mainstream? The Elder Scrolls series has been typically thought of as very hardcore RPGs.
Todd Howard: The short answer is "I don’t know." I can give you my guess, which is people underestimate how many core gamers there are; people who want a lot of depth and will play a game for a long time. There are a lot of them. If you give them something unique and good, you don’t have to dumb it down.

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And a quote about branching out into other media....

Do you ever think about exploring the rest of Skyrim’s world through other forms of media?
I’d like to keep the content itself in the games. For example, if people like the dragon priests and what they do, then let’s maybe get that in some downloadable content. But I’d rather it be that avenue than a comic or something like that.

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More information.

Todd Howard said:

people underestimate how many core gamers there are; people who want a lot of depth and will play a game for a long time. There are a lot of them. If you give them something unique and good, you don’t have to dumb it down.

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Bizarro world.

Skyrim is hardcore? Hmmm. Well I suppose my spouse thinks so. It's certainly addicting.

beth becames the new bioware and bioware becames EA!
strange times were live in!

Todd Howard is given a hard time, but I'm really glad he isn't going to "branch out" into silly comics, novels, tv shows, movies like other franchises (EA, BioWare!). Skyrim is a triumph for RPG fans, even if it is easy. I'll defend Bethesda any day of the week.

Todd Howard rules. He doesn't like stereoscopic 3D at all but his games work pretty well with it anyway, so I'll just ignore that horribly glaring flaw.

hardcore. not dumbed down.

I'm surprised at his comments - they don't really sound like a suit to me but a guy who wants to make a great game. And now, for the first time, I'm actually looking forward to the next Elder Scroll game.

I've put in over 300 hours in Skyrim and still haven't finished the main quest nor the civil war. I'm typically a one play through guy and tend to do all that I can. Well as far as Skyrim I haven't done it all. But I am coming close - It's just a fun game to play. And I was a heavy skeptic, from Oblivion up until I started playing Skyrim. It was fun right from the start.

turian said:

beth becames the new bioware and bioware becames EA!
strange times were live in!

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It's silly to try to compare Bethesda and Bioware. In my eyes, those companies are heading in completely opposite directions right now. With each new release, my ethusiasm for Bioware titles wanes even further.

Skyrim represents the first game where Bethesda actually delivered something close to the hype, and as such - I can start taking Todd seriously.

He always seemed like a bit of a (albeit clever) mouthpiece to me, but it's almost like he's gotten more modest whilst putting out greater stuff.

So, that's a nice change from all the marketing bullshit most AAA developers are forced to spew. The EA pimp and the Bio whore being among the worst, recently.

SonOfCapiz said:

hardcore. not dumbed down.

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Is that supposed to be irony? What does those words even mean?

I would define "hardcore gamer" as somebody who spends a lot of time on games, which makes the Elder Scrolls games as hardcore as they come.

As for "dumbed down", no developer would deliberately "dumb" anything down. Accessible does not equal "dumb". While I do think there are things in Skyrim which are rather dumb, like some aspects of the Thieves guild quests, I don't find Skyrim any"dumber" than Arena or Daggerfall.

JDR13 said:

It's silly to try to compare Bethesda and Bioware. In my eyes, those companies are heading in completely opposite directions right now. With each new release, my ethusiasm for Bioware titles wanes even further.

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I agree to this point.


And personally … I believe tht the huge success of BethSoft is just BECAUSE they are so far away from the main stream !

And with it I don't mean that the games appeal to "hardcore gamers", but instead I rther mean that Skyrim shows a game which is kind of realistic and … well, "different" in a way.

It isn't an action game, for example. And ince there are nothing but action games out there right now, for people who don't like action, Skyrim is like … water in a desert.

Plus, of course, they had a great marketing department. In stark contrast to let's say ho THQ/ValuSoft handled the Drakensang series. In my opinion THQ dropped Drakensang BECAUSE it wasn't any kind o an ction game.

And now Skyrim proves THQ how wrong they had been - in "burning" an non-action game.

Speculation : I could imagine that in the minds of the troubled THQ (which is said to be in financial troubles) suits there might be a frantic search going on now : "Do we have ANY game that even only SLIGHTLY resembles Skyrim ???"

And … maybe … they come to the point, at one point in the future, that Skyrim is NOT equal action … And everyone else is doing action games nowadays …

(Okay, Skyrim seems to have almost "Action-RPG" like fast-paced combat - but still, Skyrim is - as far as I can see it - not like Blizzard's games.)


And, of course, I believe that the marketing's move to take emphasis on the "dark & gritty" element of Skyrim might also play a huge role in this …

From that perspective, Skyrim fits imho perfectly into the current fashion in gaming …

@ Thrasher, sonofCapiz, etc.:
Although a lot of people at the watch (and certainly at the 'dex) consider TES games as rather "dumbed down action RPGS if RPGs at all", which may be a valid or at least debatable point of view on a PC centric western RPG fansite, I think you have to put that comment into context of the gaming industry at large. In a world where the big things are casual browser and facebook games, and 5 hour shooters, TES is indeed a rather hardcore offering.

Well, ever since the over-hyped and staged "developer commentary" videos of Oblivion..I've grown rather leery of Todd Howard and Pete Hines.

Dr. A said:

Well, ever since the over-hyped and staged "developer commentary" videos of Oblivion..I've grown rather leery of Todd Howard and Pete Hines.

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I like Todd Howard. I like how he articulates his vision of a game during the years that development is underway.

I admit Todd has put his foot in his mouth a few times. But I think we gamers, as a group, put developers feet in their mouths far more often than they do themselves.

Yeah, well the definition of hardcore seems to be adrift… "Not Facebook" would be a new lowering of the bar….

Thrasher said:

Yeah, well the definition of hardcore seems to be adrift… "Not Facebook" would be a new lowering of the bar….

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What measurement could there be, other than how much of yourself you invest in something - your time, money, commitment etc? Hardcore gamers play games all the time while casual gamers only play a little now and then.

It's not the measurement, but the threshold.

But also, there are people who spend just as much time on Facebook games as someone on Skyrim. Therefore, is Farmville as hardcore as Skyrim?

Not really comfortable with the implications of that measurement of hardcore-ness.

I enjoyed the article. I consider myself a casual player but many would consider my time played more hardcore.

There are two many undefined variables. For example I played Skyrim for 198 hours so far and still have tons left to do - haven't' finished either of the big quest lines, still haven't even done any quests in 4 of the major cities. I expect to get 300 by the time I am done. That hardly seems casual to me - even if I am stretching that 300 hours out over a 6 month time period (if not longer).

On the other hand my guy plays on the easy settings most of the time, he only has fur armor (as I like how it looks) and I don't worry about achievements or grinding or maxing out skills or armor, etc. Some might consider that "casual" compared to someone who min/maxes, played 10 hours a day for two weeks and earned every achievement.

And thats only looking at playstyle versus the game itself…. which is somewhat of another issue in the equation. Is Skyrim hardcore because you can play it so long and do so much in it? Is it casual because they removed a lot of spells, streamlined some of the character building and abilities, and removed some of the complexity?

I consider the game easy to play, overall, and easy to get lost in. I consider it moderate-core myself Ones play-style can then tilt it in either direction.

Nice exposition. That's along my thoughts as well.