After finally showing Fallout 4 gameplay footage at E3 this week in Los Angeles, executive producer Todd Howard sat down to discuss Bethesda's development strategy, and possible future routes the studio might take.
During Bethesda's inaugural press conference, Howard presented a number of changes to Fallout's open world, post-apocalyptic formula: a , a and an extensive reel of . And despite the newfound innovations and iterations, Fallout 4's development team isn't that much bigger than the one that made The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
"I wouldn't say we want to alternate [between Fallout and Elder Scrolls], per se," Howard told IGN. "We have lots of ideas. We don't want to get a ton bigger. We only have eight more people on the team than when we did with Skyrim. But we want to do more stuff, and I think, if you look at Fallout Shelter, that's an example of us doing something else. So I think going forward there are more things we could do, but we'll see what happens."
When Bethesda acquired the Fallout IP, it was an already-existing license. Howard and the team adapted it to fit the open-world RPG structure as we know it today. But going forward, as they did with The Elder Scrolls franchise, Howard said the team is more likely to create its own IP than to build on an existing one.
"We're like anybody else," Howard said. "You have tons of ideas over time, and it's just a matter of which one you decide to put your full effort behind. But, I don't think we'd go out and get another IP, given what's out there and who we are. You never know, though. I'm not making any demands like, 'Go acquire this.'"
If you missed Bethesda's first-ever E3 press conference, don't worry: IGN has it recorded . And for more news about Fallout 4, Bethesda Softworks and all of its properties, stay tuned to IGN.