Bethesda's growth makes it 'less likely' it'll let external devs tackle its IP

- Bethesda's Todd Howard discusses Fallout: New Vegas with The Guardian

Bethesda has a number of notable game franchises in its portfolio and, while it has looked to external studios like Obsidian once before to create Fallout: New Vegas, it’s becoming more and more unlikely that Bethesda will do so in the future.

Speaking to The Guardian, Bethesda company director Todd Howard touched on how the studio’s growth has put it in a position where it likely won’t turn to other developers to develop games in its long-running series, though Howard did note that he’d “never say never.”

Another interesting tidbit from the full interview touches on another often asked community question regarding remasters of older Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. While 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has received a remaster once already for its PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch release, Howard says that older games are unlikely to get the same treatment, partially because their age is part of their charm.

“I’m happy that you can play Morrowind now on an Xbox One, as it’s backwards compatible,” said Howard. “I actually prefer that over remasters. I’d rather you play Morrowind the way it was ... I think the age is part of its identity. For Skyrim Remastered, we had done some work on it but it was already pretty visually close. But for something like Morrowind, my personal preference is not to remaster it. We [also] get asked a lot to remaster [1997’s] Fallout 1, and I usually say, if you have a PC you can play Fallout the way it was. I think that’s how it should be.”