Skyrim lead designer says Bethesda can't just switch engines because the current one is "perfectly tuned" to make the studio's RPGs

Skyrim
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Lead Skyrim designer and former senior Starfield systems designer Bruce Nesmith reckons Bethesda Game Studios won't move to a new game engine - and explained why it doesn't need to.

Speaking in a recent interview with VideoGamer, Nesmith outlines why Bethesda's in-house engine still works for the studio despite its age. "We're arguing about the game engine, let's argue about the game," he says. "The game engine is not the point, the game engine is in service to the game itself. You and I could both identify a hundred lousy games that used Unreal. Is it Unreal's fault? No, it's not Unreal's fault."

While Bethesda's engine has been used to create what are arguably many of the best RPGs of all time, it's also ever-evolving - what started as the company's version of Gamebryo, a now long-defunct engine, gradually blossomed into the Creation Engine. "Gamebryo is no longer a business, it hasn't been for a while. But that engine has been constantly tweaked, updated, and refined," continues Nesmith.

According to the ex-developer, the Creation Engine has evolved "to do exactly the kinds of games that Bethesda makes: The Elder Scrolls, the Fallouts, Starfield." At this point, "it's perfectly tuned to that kind of game" - and that's why swapping engines wouldn't be ideal. There's that, plus the sheer number of years it could take to implement, and how it would slow down the development of any current projects. "That’s the penalty side. That’s the risk side," Nesmith notes. 

After hundreds of videos over 9 years, 88-year-old 'Skyrim Grandma' is retiring because "it isn't fun anymore, I'm tired of it, I'm bored to death with it"

Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

Read more
Skyrim
Skyrim and Fallout veteran left Bethesda after 14 years because he'd already made 3 runaway GotY winners: "That's a really hard thing to top"
Skyrim
Skyrim fan completes personal quest to yeet the entire RPG's map into Unreal Engine 5
Elder Scrolls map
Former Skyrim animator says "gameplay is the most important thing" for The Elder Scrolls 6
Daggerfall Unity
Elder Scrolls co-creator is "super-grateful" for fan remakes, but says their existence is bittersweet: Daggerfall might have been "flaky and weird," but "no one had to recreate Casablanca"
Skywind
After 12 years, the modders merging Morrowind and Skyrim say their project would "come out faster" if "we were all working with Bethesda," but it would be "much worse"
The Elder Scrolls' Oblivion's most annoying fan holds a torch
Oblivion remake leaks suggest Skyrim's cooler sibling is making a comeback, but I'm worried a modern makeover could bulldoze over the weirdness that makes it great
Latest in The Elder Scrolls
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
While Bethesda celebrates The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion's 19th birthday with a "Happy Anniversary" post, fans of the RPG had more in mind: "It would be perfect to... announce something"
A dragon blasts a man with a shield in Skyrim
"Even if The Elder Scrolls 6 is great," Skyrim veteran thinks Bethesda developers will face harassment and "death threats" anyway
The Elder Scrolls' Oblivion's most annoying fan holds a torch
Oblivion remake leaks suggest Skyrim's cooler sibling is making a comeback, but I'm worried a modern makeover could bulldoze over the weirdness that makes it great
Skyrim
Skyrim is still an all-time great for asset reuse: this hunk of human flesh could be some poor guard's glute, or probably just a piece of repurposed beef
The Elder Scrolls 6
The Elder Scrolls 6 NPC auction raises $85,000 as mystery bidder snags the win from a dedicated group of RPG enthusiasts
Modder leading 13-year effort to remake Oblivion in Skyrim isn't worried about an official remake: "The fact Skyblivion is nearly in a releasable state is a miracle"
Latest in News
A screenshot from MindsEye showing a character leaning out of a car, shooting another car with a gun.
GTA veteran says the games industry needs to "get smarter" about what people actually want: "There are so many games, and I think we're starting to feel the effects"
Posing with a rifle in the Fallout 76 Ghoul update
Fallout 76's art director "had to fight really hard" so Bethesda would make the MMO's map bigger than Skyrim's
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Yasuke looking over the water to a shrine during sunset in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has an entire island stuffed with adorable kittens you need to check out, and it's based on an actual Japanese cat paradise
phase zero key art showing zombies in a hallway
Former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs reveal their Resident Evil homage, complete with PS1-style fixed cameras
Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System was only created because WB Games wanted something to combat Batman Arkham Asylum's second-hand sales, exec says