STACK #133 Nov 2016

GAMES

FEATURE

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In The Vault

After blowing open E3 this year with its Sunday night press conference, Bethesda revealed its hand with an enviable line-up set to be delivered over the coming 12 months.This November, following an effective nationwide marketing campaign, Fallout 4 opens its post-apocalyptic vault in what is one of the most anticipated games of 2015. STACK recently spoke with Pete Hines – VP of

final word on whether the project is green lit? In short, it’s complicated. Every situation is different. What’s the idea, what’s the studio, how does it fit their strengths, how is it different from what we’re already doing, if we didn’t do new IP what would we do instead? There are so many questions you have to go through to figure out what’s the right thing to do. Rarely do you find yourself in a situation where you have two options: one is great and one is terrible. The tougher challenge is looking at multiple options and all of them have real potential, along with some risks, and you have to figure

PR and marketing at Bethesda Softworks and a veteran of 16 years – about what it takes to get a new IP up and running, DOOM, Dishonored 2, and of course, Fallout 4.

out which one is the best one to do. Ultimately we ask for a lot of input, weigh options, and try to pick the idea that everyone is the most excited about and has the best chance for success. Bethesda successfully rebooted theWolfenstein franchise with The New Order .What were some of the challenges involved in turning on a new generation of gamers to a franchise that is now 23 years old? Well, the challenge wasn’t the age of the franchise, it was that the franchise had seen better days. The

How did the idea for the E3 showcase materialise? PETE HINES: It was an idea I had a year or so ago. I pitched it to a few folks in my department and to Todd (Howard, game director). Everyone liked the idea of making a bigger splash, but doing it in our own way. Todd liked the idea of only having to do one demo instead of having to do the same one over and over in the booth. He hadn’t yet wrapped his head around the entire world watching that one demo…by then it was too late for him to back out. From a publisher's perspective, how has the landscape changed for Bethesda over the last five years? Games are a bigger business and more popular than ever. Console, PC, mobile, eSports, free-to-play, indie, big triple-A titles…there’s something for everyone. From our perspective,

DOOM – coming in 2016

last few games in the series weren’t runaway successes. So we had a brand we still thought was cool, we had an audience that was a mix of “I don’t know what that is” and “I used to (or still) love Wolfenstein!”, and everything in between. MachineGames took a look at it, and their own experience as developers, and said we can take the essential elements of what makes Wolfenstein cool, bring a lot of new concepts to it, and make something people will enjoy.

all of those avenues present an opportunity, but we continue to look at who we are and how we do things and what approach works best for us. I think we will continue to push ourselves to innovate and evolve, to try new things and to bring something new and different each time we work on a game.

What’s involved in endorsing a new IP? Can you outline the process for us?Who has the

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