In recent years, Bethesda fans have turned against the studio's in-house Creation Engine. As the games appear to stagnate after the heights of Skyrim, many pin the blame on engine limitations, feeling that Creation Engine is just too old to allow Bethesda to innovate on its usual formula, or the visuals.
However, Bethesda's former head of publishing, Pete Hines, completely rejects this. Speaking with journalist Kirk McKeand for the Firezide Chat newsletter, Hines defended the proprietary engine, explaining how it's necessary to create Bethesda games that feel like Bethesda games.
"Todd Howard says – and I think possibly rightly so – that the most important thing he’s ever created is not actually Oblivion or Skyrim or Fallout 4. It’s the Creation Engine. It’s the Creation Kit," Hines tells Firezide Chat. "To recognise if we don’t have a tool that allows us to build and manage and organise the world like this, we’re never going to do it."
He explains that these tools are necessary to create Bethesda games and that the studio deserves more credit for focusing on player freedom.
"Who else out in the world allows you to just stack up one quest after another on the fly while you’re...
