Bethesda Game Studios veteran Nathan "Nate" Purkeypile has looked back on his time developing some of the best RPGs to date including gems like Skyrim, explaining how he was ready for something new after helping create three Game of the Year winners.
Speaking at this year's Game Developers Conference, Purkeypile recalls leaving AAA games behind after nearly two decades, 14 years of which were spent at Bethesda. "I'd been in AAA for about 17 years at that point, and 14 of those were Bethesda, so I was ready for something different after that," admits the longtime developer, going on to momentarily look back at a pre-Skyrim E3 and industry – a different world altogether.
"This is a photo of E3 before Skyrim came out, and we didn't really know what was coming next," describes Purkeypile. "Fallout 3 did ok, but Skyrim was something else, completely different. And eventually, three of the games I worked on – Fallout 3, Skyrim, and Fallout 4 – won the most GotY awards for the year that they came out." After so many Game of the Year wins, Purkeypile didn't feel like trying to tackle yet another.
- 13-year WoW vet left Blizzard for the indie life because "I didn't really feel like a game developer in some way," agrees it's harder for AAA giants to "maintain this connection to the player"
- Former Starfield lead says "people are fatigued" with huge games, and "I'm sorry" because "part of what happened is the success of games like Skyrim and Fallout 4"
"I didn't really feel the need to do another big AAA project and try and get that because honestly, I think the odds of that are pretty low because luck and timing also played a huge factor," says the Bethesda veteran, explaining that it wouldn't be easy to do again. "That's something really hard to one-up. I hope The Elder Scrolls 6 is great, but that's a really hard thing to top, so I wanted to have a new challenge."
Purkeypile makes a valid point here, in my opinion, and it's not as though only AAA games can be great. After all, the former Bethesda dev himself is currently heading his own indie studio, Just Purkey Games, while working to release its debut title The Axis Unseen – and if hunting monsters to the tune of heavy metal doesn't honestly sound like it could be downright awesome in a Doom-esque way, then I'm not sure what does.
Here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.
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