The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim’s lead designer is “eternally shocked” that Bethesda’s RPG remains so popular, but it’s due to the success of its open world that no other game has managed to replicate.
Interviewed by FRVR, Bruce Nesmith discussed the popularity of the 14-year-old game and its “quirky” open world.
“I’m eternally shocked by that,” said Nesmith. “By all rights, a year later, some other game should have eclipsed it. And then two years later, three years later, five, ten. It’s like ‘what the hell is going on here?’
“Todd [Howard] would even go to these meetings and show us information, which I can’t give you the details of, about how many people are playing it. It’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ Seriously, still, ten years later.”
Bethesda’s games are known for their open worlds, as well as notorious meme-worthy bugs. But Skyrim’s expansive world was particularly impressive at the time for its sense of freedom that offered a “player-driven experience” Nesmith believes “very few games have mastered”.
“I think Skyrim did the open world in a way that nobody had ever done before and very few people have really tried to do since,” he continued. “And one of those things that we accepted, which a lot of developers struggle to accept, is that this means you’re going to have quirkiness. You’re going to have weird stuff happen. And if you say that’s okay, you can get this diamond.
“But if you try to smooth everything out and make sure that you don’t have any of these quirky things that people call bugs in some cases, you’re going to lose some of that magic. And we didn’t make that as a conscious decision. It just sort of happened. You know, we kind of prioritise functionally and ‘well, okay, that bug’s acceptable. This behaviour is less than ideal, but we can live with it because look what we’re getting over here’.”
Skyrim was one of Eurogamer’s games of the decade back in 2019, and received an Anniversary Edition in 2021 following releases on multiple platforms attesting to its popularity.
News remains thin on the next Elder Scrolls game, though earlier this year Bethesda offered a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for a fan to appear as a character in the game.
Before that, Bethesda released Starfield in 2023, the studio’s first new series in 25 years, though it failed to meet expectations.
