Todd Howard Breaks Down His Video Game Career | WIRED

Famed video game director Todd Howard breaks down his storied career at Bethesda Game Studios. From his first game in 1995, The Terminator: Future Shock, to his newest IP in almost thirty years, Starfield, the Skyrim, Daggerfall, and Fallout creator highlights a timeline of the games he's produced, designed and directed for an ever-developing gaming industry.

Director: Sean Dacanay
Director of Photography: Benjamin Finkel
Editor: Brady Jackson
Talent: Todd Howard
Creative Producer: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: D. Eric Martinez
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Camera Operator: Larry Greenblatt
Sound Mixer: Marianna LaFollette
Production Assistant: Sage Ellis
Hair & Make-Up: Andrea Hines
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Graphics Supervisor: Ross Rackin
Designer: Léa Kichler

00:00 Todd Howard's Career Achievements
00:17 1995 - The Terminator: Future Shock
01:49 1996 - The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
03:05 1998 - The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard
04:28 2002 - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
05:45 2006 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
07:14 2008 - Fallout 3
09:07 2011 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
10:19 2015 - Fallout 4
11:37 2018 - Fallout 76
12:58 2023 - Starfield
14:43 The Future


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[JonDan]

Without a doubt, Todd has all his points spent in charisma

[ESOdanny]

I hope The Elder Scrolls 6 sees a return to a smaller detailed worlds that feel visually connected. That was the strongest parts of TES and Fallout for me, you constantly stumbled upon unique handcrafted location, each with their own stories to discover (many left unfinished for the player to interpret). While Starfield was a huge leap in many regards I feel like the core feel of a Bethesda game was somewhat lost within the scale of it for many of us.

Todds son was saying 'Dadda' in Fallout 3 while Emil's son was performing the black sacrament in Skyrim!

[yeeyeeass]

This interview has 16x the detail of a regular Wired interview

E: I typically don't edit my comments, but I want to spread some positivity. Todd, for all his faults, can be at least proud to be head of a team that is at least attempting (with varying levels of success) to do some grander things in gaming, even if they at times don't execute their vision acceptably. Starfield, despite its many bugs, is a game I've found to be quite fun. I've put in a little over 500 hours into the game, despite the story lacking in a some key areas. Ignore the people online paid in ad revenue and Dollar Shave Club sponsorships to rag on video games and instead try it for yourself with an open mind.

[cantlivewifoutme]

Man not going to lie Todd recording his son hit the heart strings.

[jacemulliner]

I really appreciate how much Todd credits all the teams in almost everything he talks about in this video. He doesn’t make it all about him and when he brings up their faults he admits to being a part of them. Very different and much more real vibe than what he gives off at the big E3 events

[jagheterhopp]

Todd is like the ex-girlfriend that hurt you, but you still have feelings for

[mattgahr]

There’s something about Daggerfall’s box art that is incredible to me. It really captures that 90s dark charm that made games so adventurous and awesome for that time.

[exiterr]

They could never make me hate you, Pookie Howard.

[evelynsahoe]

Skyrim having a 100 person dev team is kinda crazy, like that game is absolutely massive.

[teampower]

Watching Todd talk about video games just works

[LuisGomez-ftpr]

It´s insane that they made Oblivion in four years

[Ms.Fowlbwahhh]

We all joke about Todd, and he has his faults, but no one can say that this man doesn't truly love video games.

[Kameken]

Despite everything that’s happened in the past couple of years I like that he highlighted the fact that these games are a group production not just him.

[Bonezy]

The oblivion documentary still is one my favourite documentary of all time. I love how nerdy they are all and all their passion really shows.

[coreymagz]

Love seeing Todd being honest about Fallout 76.

[gearzanimation]

I love how open Todd is about the flaws of games and not being secretive about there being a Fallout V and Elder Scrolls VI and about how impactful the community feedback has been on the challenging times and difficult seasons he faced in building a successful repertoire of games over his career. THAT realness is what builds comfortability, reliability and respect on the consumer side and is the reason I have played all his games and loved them. Need more Todd Howards out there.

[SpitfireFortyFour]

Todd has a truly advanced level of charisma.

Depsite all the problems the games may have, people still love the guy. I respect it.

[andrebenoit]

It's really crazy to think we had two elder scrolls in the 360 generation and now we are going to wait 3 generations for a new elderscrolls

[bmd]

You can tell Todd has a passion for games. Despite everything he's in this industry for the right reasons and that's all that matters.

[Squnchmo]

Tod is so charismatic. This man could sell anything