I'm a believer that players are good self-directors, and I think one thing that's good about video games is they can direct their own experience.
With 'The Elder Scrolls', you're looking at a 25-year-running franchise. It has stood the test of the 'Lord of the Rings' movies becoming popular.
I'm addicted to my iPhone and get a game for it every few days.
Batman. I like the idea that if I had enough money, time, and vengeance, I could become him.
If you look at previous generations, even where they didn't open up power, you look at an early Xbox 360 or early PlayStation 3 games and compare those to the ones that came at the end. The developers are just getting better. So time is far more important than opening up a little bit here or there, though it does all help.
Games have gotten so big and interesting that they've moved beyond the toy/entertainment space. It's not just a diversion from their regular lives; for a lot of people, it becomes an important part of their lives.
Since I first got my iPhone and 'Super Monkey Ball' came out, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is great.' I'm always searching for the nirvana of mobile gaming, whether that's from a Game Boy or a Vita or a PSP or now the Switch.
I see games... as the ultimate combination of art and technology.
Eventually, there will come a day where I'm not making games at Bethesda. Hopefully that's a long time away. But I want to make sure that who we are, what the worlds are, what the company is, that's sustainable far beyond me.
Don't define the game by the list of the features. Define it by the experience you want to have.
Epic science fiction game, that's always been on my mind. Post-apocalyptic, 'Fallout,' was our first choice. Sci-fi was our second at the time, when we got the 'Fallout' license. We were going to do our own post-apocalyptic universe if we didn't get 'Fallout.'
Great games are played, not made.
I liked hacking into and pirating computer games while in college. One of my favorites was Bethesda's 'Terminator 2029.' So I drove to their offices and asked for a job.
With 'Fallout 4,' we've done over 20 million downloads, and most of that is mods. That's a staggering number. It has always done well on the PC - but the console audience has such a hunger for it because they've waited so long. We think there's a really good future there, with both 'Skyrim' and 'Fallout 4,' that we hope to continue to add to.
We all have bad things that happen in our lives, and a lot of us wonder how we can go back to before the event, whatever it is. 'Fallout 4' is about realising that your life has a new normal. We want to put you in the shoes of someone who knows what life was like before this.
There are more players on 'Fallout Shelter' than all of my games combined. That's a little sobering at times. It's not a good or bad thing.
For us, it's about having the game react to the player as much as possible. There's ways you can do that with technology, graphics, AI - we're doing some VR stuff right now - and so it's what we think is great about not just our games, but what's great about video games - how are they better than any other form of entertainment?
I liked that line in the movie 'Shakespeare in Love': 'How is this going to work out? I don't know, but it always does.'
I'm happy that you can play 'Morrowind' now on an Xbox One, as it's backwards compatible.
When you start over and jump into new tech, you don't know what the negatives are going to be until you go through a few cycles. We're always changing our tech, but we don't wholly destroy it with each game. We're taking parts out.
