Ex-Bethesda Executive Says They Only Bought Studios They "Respected"

Following his two-decade stint at Bethesda, former president of publishing Pete Hines recently gave a comprehensive interview to DBLTAP where he touched on many aspects of his time at Bethesda, including the company's shopping spree in the late 2000s which saw it acquire Arkane Studios, MachineGames and id Software.

Bethesda would go on to steward these studios' series, such as Dishonored, Wolfenstein and Doom before Bethesda itself was acquired by Microsoft in 2021.

Bethesda's Acquisitions Came From a Place of Respect

Hines remembers the push towards acquisitions as being a "big deal" within the studio, but clarifies that Bethesda only targeted studios that people at the company "respected" and wanted to work with.

"We really respected what id Software did," Hines said. "And honestly, that conversation wasn't 'Hey, we want to acquire you'. Much like MachineGames and much like Arkane, it just started with: 'We would love to make something with you, we have a lot of respect for what you do, and we see the common DNA'".

Bethesda had also acquired Tango Gameworks in 2010, with Hines remarking, "If you have a chance to work with [studio founder] Shinji Mikami, you should always say yes." Bethesda had made a habit of acquiring the studios behind series that weren't wildly popular but rather were unique and had dedicated followings.

Hines also said the acquisitions elevated the work of every Bethesda studio because of the casual collaboration between studios. He offered gunplay as an example, saying that if a Bethesda-owned studio wanted to find out how to make guns feel "weighty and powerful" then you could talk to id Software.

Hines recounted several other stories during the interview, such as the infamous Fallout 76 canvas bag pre-order bonus that caused a headache for him and the rest of Bethesda. Hines also admitted he fought very hard internally against using the series Prey for Arkane's Prey (2017), because he felt associating an unrelated game to Prey (2006) would hinder rather than help the game.

Hines' prediction would prove accurate as Prey didn't receive the plaudits it probably deserved as one of the best immersive sims ever created.

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