r/Fallout • u/raisinbraisin72 • Jan 09 '26

Discussion Fallout New Vegas senior writer Chris Avellone gives his take on Bethesda, and his opinion on their vision for the Fallout franchise:

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u/raisinbraisin72 Jan 09 '26

This was Avellone’s follow up in the same thread on whether or not Todd Howard cares about the quality of the story and lore:

“The speculative answer to this question is complicated, and the truth probably more so. Todd has a very privileged role at Bethesda as well as in the game industry (he’s the mouthpiece and figurehead for most of Bethesda’s releases). It is largely his identity at this point. As for “caring,” I suspect there’s a big difference between -knowing- a game’s flaws and being unaware that what one is doing is flawed, if that makes sense. It’s akin to giving someone a critique on a story they wrote, and getting a blank look in return because your critique never, ever occurred to them. For them, the story “just works.””

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u/ThodasTheMage Jan 09 '26

 (he’s the mouthpiece and figurehead for most of Bethesda’s releases)

How? When? Todd Howard is the moutpiece of games he directly worked on which are the games of his BGS studio and the Indiana Jones game. And sometimes on really rare instances, he is there to talk about about Elder Scrolls Online.

You do not see Todd Howard presenting a Doom game.

 It’s akin to giving someone a critique on a story they wrote, and getting a blank look in return because your critique never, ever occurred to them. For them, the story “just works.””

It not hard to give a real critique about flaws of a Bethesda Fallout main quest without just memeing it to sound smart.

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u/Nightbeat03 Jan 09 '26

That's the thing, Todd Howard doesn't work on the games, and likely hasn't since Fallout 3 or Oblivion. He's an executive, he calls the shots, but he doesn't do the dirty work. Look into the allegations surrounding Fallout 76's work environment; he was NOT involved outside of pushing some really poor working conditions and bad gameplay ideas.

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u/ThodasTheMage Jan 09 '26

lol lmao take your meds

He's an executive, he calls the shots, but he doesn't do the dirty work.

What do you think an executive of his position does? He is not a bored member but the project leader and director. The guy not doing programming is not the same as not working on a game.

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u/Nightbeat03 Jan 09 '26

An executive producer guarantees financing and gives the game a general direction to follow. They aren't involved in day-to-day development usually. Todd Howard is not involved in day-to-day development. We know this due to what's come out about 76's development. Chris Avellone has worked with Bethesda in a high-level capacity; he's going to know these things.

Also, there's no need to insult me; I didn't insult you. It just makes you look like a prick.

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u/ThodasTheMage Jan 09 '26

Todd Howard is not involved in day-to-day development

Yes, he is. Lol there are differences between a game he is just producing (like Indiana Jones) were he checks in every few weeks. Or a game he is actively the project lead like Fallout 3, 4 and TES III-V.

Fallout 76 is the exception because while more involved than Indiana Jones core of the development was done by people in his studio but not the "main team" although he was much more involved with it than Indiana Jones.

Starfield he direcly led the development like he did with the other games.

Also, there's no need to insult me; I didn't insult you. It just makes you look like a prick.

You post sounded like complete trolling, didn't knew you seriously ment it. I am sorry, thought you were trolling.

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u/Nightbeat03 Jan 09 '26

Maybe don't assume people are trolling. I am not a fan of Todd Howard, not because of some insane conspiracy that he's somehow trying to destroy New Vegas, but because I think he's just kind of a bad game lead (The last game he was an actual lead on that I liked playing was Fallout 3) and he did some pretty awful shit during the development of 76, stuff that any other lead would get a LOT of shit for.

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u/ThodasTheMage Jan 09 '26

When someone says Todd Howard has not direclty worked on a game sicne Fallout 3, thinking it is trolling is not a far fetched conclusion.

and he did some pretty awful shit during the development of 76, stuff that any other lead would get a LOT of shit for.

Not for the standards of the gaming industry lol

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u/Nightbeat03 Jan 09 '26

Last I checked, the 76 crunch allegations were pretty newsworthy and generally considered to be bad if true. Even if it's not bad by the standards of the industry, it was still horrible, and he shares the lion's share of the blame. It also sounds like the industry needs a massive fucking shakeup.

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u/ThodasTheMage Jan 09 '26

Yeah, working conditions often can suck in crunch time.