Todd Howard is the executive producer and game director at Bethesda Softworks. He led the development of Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout 76 and Fallout Shelter and is one of the executive producers of the upcoming Fallout TV Series.
Career
Howard joined Bethesda game development in 1994. One of Howard's first assignments was to work on the first Elder Scrolls game, The Elder Scrolls: Arena by porting the game from its original floppy disk media to the new CD format. Over the years, he continued to contribute to various titles, and is currently Executive Producer of the Elder Scrolls. He also serves as Executive Producer of Fallout games developed by Bethesda Softworks.
His major credits include being project leader and designer of Morrowind, designer on Daggerfall, and producer and designer of The Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET. He was also the project leader and designer of The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard.
Fallout series
Fallout 3
By July 2004, Todd was involved with Fallout 3 when Bethesda announced it would be developing the title that month. In 2005, he mentioned in an interview that he intended to return Fallout to RPG prominence and do the series justice while also bringing it into the current day. He mentioned it would resemble Fallout more than Fallout 2.[1]
Fallout 4
Fallout 4 became Bethesda's primary project in 2011. Todd revealed Fallout 4 at E3 2015. Todd mentioned that its game world was the most ambitious and detailed game world the studio has made so far.
Fallout 76
Fallout 76 was revealed at E3 2018 with Todd as its presenter. Todd mentioned the game's world would be four times the size of Fallout 4 and have sixteen times the detail.
At E3 2019, Todd opened up about the disappointment with the launch of 76, mentioning him and the team were caught off-guard by the amount of issues. He mentioned much criticism was deserved and that it should have had a longer beta test. He appreciated the continuing constructive criticism from fans to help make 76 a better game.[2]
Near the end of 2021, Todd did an AskMeAnything on Reddit. He mentioned, "We let people down and were able to learn and be better from it. We're fortunate 3 years later to have 76 be one of our most played games, and it's thanks to the 11 million players who have made it an incredible community. It's made us much better developers in the end."[3]
Fallout 5
In 2021, Todd mentioned Bethesda has considered Fallout 5 and that the studio has a one-pager on it.[4]
Employment history
| From | To | Company | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Present | Bethesda Softworks | Game Director Executive Producer |
Credits
Fallout series
| Year | Title | Credited |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Fallout 3 | Game Director Executive Producer |
| 2010 | Fallout: New Vegas | Special Thanks |
| 2015 | Fallout Shelter | Executive Producer |
| 2015 | Fallout 4 | Game Director Executive Producer |
| 2018 | Fallout 76 | Executive Producer |
Other work
| Year | Title | Credited |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | PBA Bowling | Special Thanks |
| 1996-present | The Elder Scrolls series | Game Director, Executive Producer, Project Leader, Designer, Writer, Additional Writer, Quest Design, Additional Design, Special Thanks |
| 1996 | SkyNET | Producer/Designer |
| 1999 | Protector | Executive Producer |
| 2000 | Sea Dogs | Special Thanks |
| 2003 | Pirates of the Carribean | Special Thanks |
| 2011 | Brink | Special Thanks |
| 2014 | Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Pack) | Music Credits |
| 2016 | Doom | Special Thanks |
| 2022 | Starfield | Director |
Quotes
Fallout 3
- "When we started Fallout 3 in 2004, we obviously had big ideas of what we could do with it, and I talked to a lot of outside people, from ex-developers to press folks to fans. What made it special? What are the key things you'd want out of a new one? The opinions, and I'll put this mildly…varied. A lot. But they would all end the same, like a stern father, pausing for affect – "but do not…screw it up." Gulp. Let me write that last one down a few times."[5]
- "I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you've probably read between 1 and 50 previews of Fallout 3 already (they're linked on this site). There's already too much info out there, in different forms and in conflicting ways, for me to cover or correct it all here. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that the information never gets out 100% correctly, and you will certainly never be quoted correctly. For the record, I never compared the violence in Fallout to Jackass, I compared it to Kill Bill…big difference. I also never said "fantasy is riding a horse and killing things," but oh well. Ultimately the game speaks for itself (certainly better than I do). The other thing to keep in mind is that preview comments often circle around the small-footprint sensational elements (Fat Man, toilet drinking, bobbleheads, etc), while sometimes missing the key points of the hour-long demo we give, which are: player choice, consequence, sacrifice, and survival."[5]
Fallout 4
- "I think our fans are used to it over time, that we do like to try new things. And we'll have some successes, you know I think the shooting in Fallout 4 is really good, I think it plays really well. Obviously, the way we did some dialogue stuff, that didn't work as well. But it was I think -- I know the reasons we tried that, to make a nice interactive conversation, but [it was] less successful than other things in the game. For us, we take that feedback, and I think long term."
Fallout 76
- "'Fallout 76' is a very different 'Fallout' game. We're very aware of that. We think a lot of people will like it, because we like it. But a lot of people probably won't. We need to balance that. This is an idea we have, and there's a lot of old 'Fallout' stuff in it, but it's a very new experience."
- "Let's let them all collide. And it'll be messy for a little bit, but we can solve it. I'd rather do that than like, play it safe so it's boring. You can sit, though, in any design meeting and come up with a list of reasons not to do something. It's pretty easy. "Well, I'm worried about this, and I'm worried about this, and I'm worried about this." And I'm worried it's gonna be boring. Like, let's at least try it. Like, this is what we do... you know, if this is a vibe we want, let's go at it." (about 76 having online players)
- "It starts with... a map of the world... that glows in the fucking dark!" (presenting the collector's edition during E3)
Gallery
Todd's character in Fallout Shelter
Art of Fallout 4 cameo
External links
- Todd Howard, rawg.io
- Todd Howard, Duck and Cover Fallout 3 interview
- Todd Howard, Gamespot Fallout 3 interview