Todd Howard “in love” with Bethesda’s mysterious Mobile game that is in development
An exciting prospect for mobile gamers craving more depth
In a podcast with Lex Fridman, Todd Howard, director and executive producer of Bethesda Game Studios and the brains behind leading titles such as the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls Series confirmed that the studio is working on an upcoming mobile game and he’s already in love with it.
While he didn’t spill any juicy details just yet, Howard did speak about the different approaches that can be taken with game development. He explains that the current approach to mobile gaming is one that targets short sessions of play with simple tutorials. This is because most mobile games are free, and people don’t sit and play them for long periods as they are mainly used to pass the time when traveling or while waiting for something.
Todd Howard also shares his thought on mobile gaming
This mobile-centric approach is drastically different when compared to the PC and Console gaming experience where people will deliberately sit down to play a game just for the sake of playing it.
Howard believes that with most mobile games, people haven’t invested money into the product like they do with PC or console games and that this leads to a lack of commitment and interest to patiently learn the game.
It’s not hard to understand this line of reasoning as it seems to be one of the major reasons that most mobile games remain simplistic and lack the depth and scale of their PC/Console counterparts. (Of course, some exceptions exist) Howard observed that with previous Bethesda mobile games like Fallout Shelter:
“People will sit there for an hour or two, like they will just sit there and play it, like large numbers of people will play it for hours a day”
Todd Howard about the mobile game “Fallout Shelter” on the Lex Fridman podcast
His statements imply that Bethesda Studios believe that there is indeed a market for serious mobile gaming sessions, and this opinion is already being validated by business decisions from other big tech companies like Microsoft who are in the process of purchasing Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.
Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming in an interview with Bloomberg stated that the expensive acquisition was primarily driven by Microsoft’s desire to increase its strength in the mobile gaming industry.
“But we really started the discussions, internally at least, on Activision Blizzard around the capability they had on mobile and then PC with Blizzard. Those were the two things that were really driving our interest.”
Phill Spencer in an interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang
Regardless of the direction that the mobile gaming industry is moving, we are very excited about Bethesda’s unannounced mobile game and if our hunch is right, it’s going to be one that provides a grander experience than the mobile games we are used to.
What are your thoughts on Bethesda’s unannounced mobile game? Let us know in the comments below!
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