Former Elder Scrolls designer Kurt Kuhlmann on Fallout: New Vegas diehards: 'I don't know that Todd wanted to create that situation again for The Elder Scrolls'

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Close up of former Bethesda Studios designer Kurt Kuhlmann

"The whole New Vegas thing did create at least the perception of this, 'Who makes a better Fallout game? Oh, they should just give it to Obsidian.' There are the Obsidian, New Vegas people that think 'Obviously New Vegas is way better, Obsidian is way better at making those games, and why don’t they just get Fallout altogether.'

"I don’t know that Todd wanted to create that situation again for The Elder Scrolls. Todd, from my time there, he is very protective of it. I do think [Elder Scrolls Online] took the heat off. There was a new Elder Scrolls product and it was ongoing. It was creating new content constantly. And here are a lot of people⁠—I mean, I know the single-player people, I’m one of those people⁠—but there are a lot of people to whom The Elder Scrolls is now ESO.

"That’s their experience with it. That’s what they love. That’s where they got their Elder Scrolls gaming experience, and that’s probably what they want more of. I do think that ESO was sort of the 'We're doing something with Elder Scrolls, there is a product for people that want it.'"

I want to establish my old school RPG sicko bona fides really quick: My favorite Fallout games are 1 and New Vegas. My least favorite is 3 (4 is better than it gets credit for in critical circles). I really did not like Starfield and did not make it past the first planet. Obsidian is one of my favorites to ever do it. Troika Games forever.

With that out of the way, it is deranged how a lot of fans talk online about Bethesda as a studio, and Todd Howard as a guy. I have no doubt as to the accuracy of Kuhlmann's assessment of his former boss.

And I don't blame Howard one bit for being protective of the series in this way⁠. It's pretty relatable, and I'm sure it wasn't the only consideration around avoiding mainline-style spinoffs, as Kuhlmann's thoughts on ESO indicate.

Reading this in bad faith, you could parse it as an admission of weakness or insecurity, but I don't see it that way. I've spoken to senior Bethesda devs myself and watched them in other interviews: They're proud of their own work, speak positively of New Vegas, and seem to respect their peers at Obsidian. I think it's YouTubers impugning their character or calling for their coworkers to be fired over a perceived mishandling of the series that gets on their nerves.

Fallout memers seem to have gotten what they wanted, but in a monkey's paw kind of way. Obsidian is making a new Fallout game now, but with a gun to its head. Given all the layoffs and studio closures Xbox has under its belt, with more no doubt on the way, it doesn't feel like anybody's winning.

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Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.

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