TOP 10 interesting facts about Todd Howard

Todd Howard is a game director who led the development of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind and Skyrim, Fallout 3 and 4, as well as Starfield. He is currently an executive producer for Bethesda Game Studios. But the developer became famous online largely thanks to memes featuring him. The phrase «Buy Skyrim!» heard by everyone who is even slightly interested in the gaming industry. In this article we have collected the most interesting facts from the biography of Todd Howard.

Like Phil Spencer, whom we profiled recently, Todd has been acting since he was a child. Ultima 3: Exodus and Wizardry impressed him so much that he wanted to become a developer himself. The guy made his first project at the age of 12 on the then current Apple II.

But Todd was not only developing his own games, but also hacking others. He bypassed security systems to study the computer code of projects he liked.

After being introduced to the hockey simulator Wayne Gretzky Hockey, Todd wanted to work at Bethesda. It turned out that her office was located not far from his house. In 1988, he first tried to get a job at the company, but was rejected. The person who conducted the interview suggested that he finish school first. But even after graduation they didn't want to hire him, because there were no vacancies in the studio. The guy went to college and even began his professional career as a game developer. At the same time, Todd periodically met with representatives of Bethesda and each time offered his services. He received consent only in 1994. Thirty years have passed since then, and the man still continues to work in this company.

In the early 90s, Bethesda was not as famous as it is today. It produced hockey simulators and video games based on the Terminator dilogy. Todd Howard was immediately tasked with level design for the shooter The Terminator: Future Shock. And while working on its sequel The Terminator: SkyNET Todd was already acting as a game designer. He performed well, and the game received high marks.

Most people associate the phrase The Elder Scrolls with large RPGs. However, the series also includes projects of other genres. For example, Adventures: Redguard is a third-person action game set in Hammerfell. Todd Howard acted as the game director for this game. This spin-off can hardly be called outstanding; it failed in sales, and after a short time they completely forgot about it. Meanwhile, after its release, Todd was entrusted with the third part of the series.

Morrowind, led by Todd Howard, turned out to be the best role-playing game of 2002. You can list its advantages for a long time — a large and well-developed open world, an excellent plot, dozens of colorful characters, the ability to play different roles, and much more. Note that even after completing all the main and minor quests, fans returned to the lands of Vvardenfell just to enjoy the local atmosphere. And although more than 20 years have passed since the release date, the game is still popular among modders.

In interviews, Todd has repeatedly emphasized how important Morrowind turned out to be for Bethesda, which was on the verge of closing in the early 2000s. However, he has no plans to release a remake or remaster of the classic.

Developers are often nervous about criticism. Todd is the exception to this rule. He used to frequent forums to get people's opinions on his games. In this way, the developer could identify shortcomings that were not obvious at first glance. However, after the release of Oblivion there were so many reviews that there was no longer enough time to read all the reviews.

In 2004, Bethesda acquired the rights to the Fallout series. The initiator of this purchase was Todd Howard himself, who had long wanted to work on a game in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Fallout 3 was developed on the TES 4: Oblivion engine. As with Morrowind, Todd Howard served as the game's game director. The isometric camera has been replaced by a first-person view, and turn-based battles have been replaced by real-time shootouts with the ability to stop time and make an accurate shot. Not all fans of the original duology liked this vision of the series. Many of them called the game «Oblivion with guns» because of the similarity in appearance between Fallout 3 and the fourth The Elder Scrolls.

We are talking about Skyrim, the development of which was also led by Todd. Much has been said about its advantages and disadvantages. Today it is the most popular project among modders. Moreover, among the modifications there are not only simple improvements, but also full-fledged new games, for example, Enderal: The Shards of Order.

The Elder Scrolls 5 has received several re-releases for a variety of platforms, including the Nintendo Switch and virtual reality headsets. At some point, users even started joking about this. And so the «Buy Skyrim» meme was born. At the same time, the game sold 60 million copies, which brought it to seventh place in the list of the most successful interactive projects in history.

Typically Bethesda games come out one or two years after they are announced. Exceptions include Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6. But if the release of the space RPG did take place, then nothing is still known about the new part of The Ancient Scrolls. Apart from a short teaser that appeared back in June 2018, we have not seen any gameplay videos or cinematic trailers. Even the location of the new game remains unknown. All we have is lengthy interviews with Todd himself, where he talks about how important Skyrim was and how important it is for Bethesda to make the sixth The Elder Scrolls as good as it is.

Famous people react differently to their popularity on the Internet. Some celebrities even file lawsuits when they see offensive or aggressive remarks directed at them. But Todd, on the contrary, likes that he became the hero of memes.

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