While everything suggests that The Elder Scrolls VI will be a colossal fantasy RPG, Bethesda is unlikely to significantly increase its staff for the project. Jeremy Bryant, an animator who previously worked on Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield, believes the company will not make major hires for its upcoming blockbuster.

Now that Starfield is out and rumors of a remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are swirling, Bethesda’s focus is turning to its next major fantasy RPG: The Elder Scrolls VI. Although concrete updates on the game have been scarce, many fans expected the studio to expand its team in order to tackle the massive undertaking. However, one former developer doesn’t think that’s in the cards.

Jeremy Bryant, a veteran animator on some of Bethesda’s biggest titles, shared his thoughts in an interview with the YouTube channel KIWI TALKZ. According to him, Bethesda’s existing multi-studio structure means the overall workforce has already grown considerably, making further hiring unnecessary. “Todd [Howard] has a clear vision of the game he wants to make, and he knows how many people he needs to pull it off,” Bryant explained. “Once you lay out the development roadmap, it’s easy to see whether you need more people—and clearly, he did at that time.”

“Probably the only realistic way to grow that fast is through acquisitions,” he continued. “You can’t just suddenly hire that many people. Bringing on a few extra folks won’t cut it for a project of that size.” Asked whether Bethesda might still scale up to meet the demands of The Elder Scrolls VI, Bryant responded bluntly: “I don’t think so.” He then pointed to Rockstar’s strategy for comparison: “They’re masters at what they do. Their games are always polished. You look at it and ask yourself, ‘how the hell do they manage that?’ Sure, GTA 6 took a decade, but the Red Dead Redemption credits listed around 500 animators. That’s like 80-85 for gameplay, 80 more for cinematics, and another 100 for facial animation. That kind of manpower is just mind-blowing.”

In fact, Bryant speculated that “they probably have 3,000 people working on GTA 6.” Still, despite the scale, he admitted he wouldn’t want to be part of such a sprawling team: “How do all those people even communicate or form any kind of connection when it’s just thousands of strangers packed together like an assembly line?” he wondered. “To me, that sounds horrible. Absolutely awful.”

Bethesda Might Face “Death Threats” Even If the Game Is Great

While some, like Bryant, are pondering the development strategy for The Elder Scrolls VI, others are more concerned about what happens after the game launches. One former Bethesda developer is not optimistic, predicting that the studio will receive “death threats” no matter how good the final product turns out to be. As he put it, “the internet can be really horrible,” and many users won’t hesitate to post hateful criticism in any context.

Source: 3djuegos