Bethesda Veteran Reveals Starfield’s Challenges Stemmed from Bureaucratic Issues

A seasoned designer recently opened up about his unexpected exit from Bethesda Game Studios in 2023, after more than two decades with the company. He pointed to what he perceived as harmful shifts in the development process of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises, driven by Bethesda’s ongoing expansion, as the main reason for his departure.

Kurt Kuhlmann, who began his journey at Bethesda as a junior designer in the late ’90s and returned as a senior designer in 2003, made headlines when he chose to leave. By that point, he had contributed to every major title in the Elder Scrolls series—except for the original, Arena—and played a key role in shaping its expansive world and lore.

“It was almost certainly time for a change,” Kuhlmann shared. “There were some longstanding issues that I wasn’t particularly happy with.”

His dissatisfaction largely stemmed from Bethesda’s transformation from a small team of developers working in a basement to a massive organization with hundreds of employees spread across four studios under Microsoft’s management. The days of casually dropping by to discuss ideas and receive quick feedback from trusted figures like executive producer Todd Howard were long gone.

Instead, senior developers found themselves taking on more managerial roles, with decisions needing to pass through multiple layers of bureaucracy. Kuhlmann noted that this environment was prone to “communication breakdowns,” which he believed contributed to some of Bethesda’s recent development challenges. For example, teams working on Starfield often faced confusion about their objectives as information trickled down through various studio leads.

“The expectation was that if you were managing the scope of a project, you couldn’t also be making content,” Kuhlmann explained. “I didn’t want to work that way because I enjoy being hands-on and creating games. It had grown to a scale that made it hard for me to enjoy that environment.”

This shift in focus, along with Howard retracting a previous commitment to make Kuhlmann the lead designer for The Elder Scrolls 6, made it clear to him that it was time to move on. Kuhlmann acknowledged that stepping back from that potential role was likely a wise choice, as he probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the position given Bethesda’s current development challenges.

Regarding his vision for The Elder Scrolls 6, Kuhlmann compared his initial ideas to the narrative of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, where the antagonists would emerge victorious, setting the stage for the conflict in The Elder Scrolls 7. However, he noted that the lengthy AAA release cycle would likely render such a cliffhanger “unfeasible.”

“That’s not a good way to end a game and say, yeah, we’ll see you in 10, 15 years,” Kuhlmann remarked.