Larian Publisher Pushes Back Against Former Bethesda Designer: A Morrowind Remake “Would Sell Like Hotcakes” With the Right Studio

Larian Studios’ Publishing Director Michael Douse has disagreed with comments from former lead designer of Skyrim Bruce Nesmith, who claimed that modern players would “grimace” at a remake of Morrowind.

Writing on Twitter, Douse said there is “a technically competent developer who would happily remake Morrowind with modern combat,” adding that such a project “would sell like hotcakes.”

Previously, Nesmith argued that Morrowind would not stand the test of time due to outdated mechanics. He urged fans to return to the 2002 game and see for themselves: “We have warm memories of important moments in our gaming history, but boot up a 20-year-old game — and you’ll grimace.” Douse countered that you simply cannot combine a random number system with first-person combat — in Morrowind, attacks were resolved via “dice rolls,” meaning a player could visibly hit an enemy with a sword while the game still registered a miss. As a potential solution, he suggested something akin to the VATS system from Fallout 3. In another post, he joked: “Mission — find Bloober for Bethesda,” alluding to the success of the Silent Hill 2 remake by Bloober Team.

Fans of The Elder Scrolls have been actively defending Morrowind on social media and Reddit, often pointing to WoW Classic as an example — Blizzard players also doubted the appeal of returning to an older version, yet it became one of the studio’s most successful releases. Nesmith also noted that Bethesda may no longer even have Morrowind’s original source code due to the project’s age.

However, Morrowind isn’t the only remake sparking debate after the success of Oblivion Remastered — for nearly half a year now, rumors

have circulated about a remake of the third Fallout as well.

Douse closely follows the industry with clear enthusiasm. He has previously shared that he completed the Oblivion remaster to “platinum,” and he frequently comments on other projects as well. For example, he recently weighed in on the visual style of Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter.