Bethesda Game Studios executive producer Todd Howard, long thought of as the face of the company, seems like a cool dude. That's it. That's the news.
Despite being at the top of one of the biggest video game developers in the world, Howard has always come across as an exceptionally down-to-earth person, often speaking candidly in interviews and without the sort of media-trained filter you'd expect from an executive of his level. It also seems like people who have worked under him have nothing but good things to say.
It was perhaps no surprise then that Bethesda sent copies of Oblivion: Remastered to the Skyblivion mod team back in April and assured them it has no intention of shutting down the project. For the uninitiated, Skyblivion is a fan-made remake of Oblivion being built in Skyrim, which for a more litigious company could easily be grounds for a lawsuit.
With that in mind, it might be even less surprising, but nonetheless wholesome as hell, to learn that Bethesda actually invited the Skyblivion team to its headquarters, where the modders had the chance to sit down with Howard for what sounds like quite a lot of time.
Talking to PC Gamer, Skyblivion project lead Rebelzize said he was taken aback by just how excited Howard was to nerd out about his ambitious mod.
"He could have stopped by for 10 minutes, shook some hands and then walked off," Rebelzize said. "He's in a position to do that, but he was genuinely so interested in talking to every single person that was there and about what they do in real life, and what they do in the project. It was just a really fantastic culture all around. There's a lot of lot of passion and love in that company."
I don't know what else to add here; I'm just truly happy for the Skyblivion team. The project began back in 2012, shortly after the release of Skyrim, and I don't think anyone could've predicted at the time that an official Oblivion remake would launch in 2025, the same year Skyblivion itself is supposed to come out. The modders have been great sports about the whole thing, and I'm sure the visit to Bethesda HQ was just the motivation they needed to get the project over the finish line.
In the meantime, why not read some stuff about The Elder Scrolls 6?
