Elder Scrolls lead dev explains why he left Bethesda in 2023

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Kurt Kuhlmann, a former developer at Bethesda, has explained why he left the company in 2023. He said the issues stemmed from poor communication while working on Starfield and a commitment that wasn’t kept.

After over twenty years at Bethesda Game Studios – where he was famous for creating the detailed history and world-building for The Elder Scrolls series – Kuhlmann explained his departure in a recent interview with PC Gamer.

According to Kuhlmann, he spent most of his last years at Bethesda working on Starfield. He described this time as often frustrating, explaining that poor communication hindered his ability to make a significant contribution to the project.

Breakdown during Starfield development

He shared that making Starfield was challenging because teams working remotely didn’t always coordinate well, and his responsibilities shifted, making it hard for him to focus on the actual game building.

Kuhlmann explained that different people would sometimes receive conflicting information when speaking with the key individuals in each studio. It was as if each studio was giving out slightly different responses to the same questions.

His work on older Elder Scrolls games, such as Daggerfall, was different. Back then, a small, close-knit team worked together in the same location. Later, as the games grew and more people were involved, it became harder to communicate effectively.

Once a company grows to that scale, informal chats with leaders about design ideas become impossible. There’s no time for one-on-one lunches with everyone. It’s a much different environment when you have 400 employees, multiple studios, significant business responsibilities, and a parent company like Microsoft involved.

His disappointment grew when he didn’t get the design leadership position he’d expected. Todd Howard had verbally promised Kuhlmann a lead design role on The Elder Scrolls 6, and when that didn’t happen, it was a major factor in his decision to leave.

Todd told me he wanted me to be heavily involved in the project. However, our visions for my role didn’t quite align at that time.

Kuhlmann ultimately chose to leave the studio in 2023.

These remarks from Kuhlmann follow a recent explanation from an artist who contributed to both Fallout and Skyrim regarding the timing of The Elder Scrolls 6’s announcement.

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2026-01-19 14:18