Todd Howard explains why he’s against full remakes of old Bethesda games

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Todd Howard, head of Bethesda, has stated he doesn’t like fully remaking their older titles. He’d rather see them updated with a simpler remaster, similar to what was done with Oblivion.

With improvements in gaming technology, it’s common for studios and publishers to bring their classic games to new players. They usually do this in one of two ways: by ‘remastering’ the original game with visual updates, or by completely rebuilding it from scratch, like the recent remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4.

Lots of older games are popular enough that fans want to see them remade, and Bethesda has several titles on that list. But according to Todd Howard, Bethesda isn’t planning on fully rebuilding games like Fallout 3 or New Vegas, which will disappoint many players.

Bethesda boss reveals why he’s against full remakes of old games

Howard mentioned in an interview with Kinda Funny that he’s generally against remaking games. He believes a game’s age is an important part of its identity, personality, and what it meant when it was originally released, and that remakes diminish those qualities.

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That’s why last year’s remastered version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was mostly an improved update of the original game, with only a few new features for modern systems, instead of a completely new title.

As we started working on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, we wanted to create the best possible remaster – essentially, what the game would be like if it had received years of updates and improvements. We focused on keeping the original game running and imagining all the patches and enhancements we would have added over time.

We want to update the visual style to look modern, but stay true to the original design. We’re not planning a complete overhaul of the armor in The Elder Scrolls – think of it as a higher-resolution version of what you already know and love.

For weeks, there’s been talk and leaks about updated versions of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and it seems like they’re currently being worked on. However, based on recent information, these will probably be remastered editions – meaning improvements to the existing games – rather than full remakes that completely rebuild them.

Howard didn’t directly say anything about new projects in the interview, but he did mention he appreciated the surprise release strategy used for Oblivion. This suggests that if remastered versions of Fallout games are released, they might appear suddenly without much advance notice.

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2026-02-19 13:48