Bethesda's Vice President of Public Relations and Marketing talks about MMOs and Elder Scrolls V.
Pro-G recently had a chat with Pete Hines, Vice President of Public Relations and Marketing at Bethesda, and we took the opportunity to quiz him on the future of the Elder Scrolls series.
Firstly, although the success of Oblivion makes it a cert, don't expect Elder Scrolls V any time soon.
"Well, I can tell you that since Oblivion has been such a smashing success that I'm sure we will do it [Elder Scrolls V], but there are no immediate plans right now," said Hines. "We're finishing up Oblivion then shifting our focus to Fallout 3, which is our next big role-playing game."
Hines also revealed that Bethesda has discussed the idea of making an MMO but notes that it would have to be based on a fresh idea.
"Certainly, there's a chance, it's something we've talked about, but it's not anywhere in our immediate future. I don't think we could do an MMO unless it was with some fresh idea that no one has ever tried before," said Hines.
Turning his attention back to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Oblivion, Hines revealed that the game is really only scratching the surface of what is possible despite being able to offer visuals and AI that simply were not possible on previous generation hardware.
"Next generation allows you to do far better graphics and there's more horse-power so you can do things like AI routines for all the NPCs. That takes a lot of time and effort; it's like herding cats. We're only scratching the surface really," explained Hines.
Check out the full Shivering Isles interview for more on the upcoming expansion.
Trailer 109 Mar 2007
I think Oblivion's main strength was that it was such a good immersive experience in single player. I don't think the same experience would be there in an MMO version, basically because Oblivion in MMO form would equate pretty much to EverQuest II, so I can understand what he means when Hines says: "...