Pete Hines Looks Back on Bethesda's Journey and the Evolving Gaming World
Pete Hines, a name almost as synonymous with Bethesda as Vault Boy or Todd Howard, recently opened up about his extensive 24-year tenure at the company. As the former Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications, Hines witnessed firsthand Bethesda's strategic shifts, triumphs, and trials. Now, two years into his retirement, he continues to advise industry professionals pro bono, sharing a wealth of experience gained from observing one of gaming's most iconic publishers from its leaner days to its global powerhouse status. In an interview with DBLTAP, Hines offered a candid look back at the unique moments and challenges that defined his remarkable career.
From X-COM Fan to Bethesda Pioneer
Hines' journey into the gaming industry began not with ambition, but with a passion for X-COM: UFO Defense. While working in communications for the American College of Cardiology, he found himself using the university library to track news about the game's sequel. This led him to The Adrenaline Vault, a website seeking volunteer writers. He joined, penning articles while balancing a full-time job and an MBA. This side hustle eventually led to a conversation with Bethesda.
"I remember talking to Bethesda about working," Hines recalled. "Todd Vaughn [Senior Vice President of Product Development], who became a good friend of mine, said, 'How about we combine your responsibilities and have you head up marketing and communications at Bethesda?' I said yes immediately."
This was October 1999. Bethesda had just been acquired by ZeniMax and was still a small team, with about ten people sharing a single hallway.
The Magic of a Small Company
Hines fondly remembers a time when Bethesda was "light" and "agile." For the launch of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, the entire marketing team consisted of just him and an artist. They handled everything from moderating forums to preparing press materials. Trust and personal involvement were paramount, often outweighing formal processes. Hines recounted a moment when Todd Vaughn approached him:
"Todd Vaughn walks into my office and says, 'I don't have a manual [for Morrowind]. Somebody tried to do it, and it didn't really work. Don't worry, you'll figure it out.' Damn it, I had no idea how to write manuals, but he trusted me."
This personal touch defined the early Bethesda culture. Hines reflected on the adage, "It's not personal, it's just business," dismissing it as a sentiment expressed by "jerks." His philosophy was different: "My philosophy at Bethesda was always, it's going to be both. Yes, we're doing business, but I'm not hiding who I am or how I think things should be done."
In those early years, before ZeniMax grew to 2,500 employees, developers themselves would assemble physical copies of games, putting discs into boxes and shrink-wrapping them for shipment. Hines became a public face of Bethesda not out of a desire for fame, but because there was no one else with his deep understanding of the company. He felt a responsibility to communicate Bethesda's message to gamers, even taking the stage to present Fallout 76 at E3 2018 with a severe concussion.
"I was playing over-40 soccer and took an elbow to the side of the head. My wife had to pick me up. I was throwing up; it was awful. I thought, 'This is the most important event we've ever done, and there are no circumstances under which I'm going to miss it.' With a concussion, they tell you to avoid bright, flashing lights and loud sounds. And I went to a press event where people played a video game all day. I barely remember the trip."
A strong sense of loyalty and dedication permeated Bethesda, stemming directly from its leadership. The late CEO and founder, Robert Altman, was deeply respected. During the pandemic, he sent weekly inspirational letters to staff, and in normal times, he made time to speak with employees at every level. Despite his legal and business background, Altman understood that video games were impossible without talented individuals and always sought to support them.
"It was Robert Altman's company, we were his employees, no questions asked. But he treated us like family, and we found a culture that fit us. When it worked, it was magical. We were a small private company, and it was easier to stay out of unnecessary scrutiny by not publishing earnings reports to the whole world. The company is completely different now. It has changed a lot from what we built. But at its peak, it was a truly special place to be a part of."
Hines described those "magical" times, with Christmas parties at Dave & Buster's and Altman handing out bonuses in small envelopes, as periods where Bethesda upheld principles of honesty and integrity. They aimed to deliver on promises and be transparent about their plans. While developers occasionally missed the mark, their intentions were always honorable.
Philosophy of Games and Creativity
Bethesda consistently prioritized player experience. Todd Howard famously said, "Great games are played, not made." Even during the development of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Dishonored, the studio experimented, allowing gamers to discover unexpected gameplay solutions.
A vivid example of this unconventional approach occurred during the development of Dishonored by Arkane Studios. The game featured a complex system of intertwined abilities and world rules. One tester, exploring fall damage, accidentally used an ability that allowed him to possess a fish. The developers hadn't even realized this was possible, as the ability was only intended for rats and humans. Instead of fixing it as a "bug," designers created hidden routes for fish, enabling players to sneak through sewers using this unique interaction with the world.
"Suddenly, the water in the game stopped being unimportant and became, 'Oh, it's really important,' because we're not going to take that out. But now we have to account for it. So, a key part is talking about how important it is to embrace player creativity. The problem is that you're trying to tell the story of what the game will ultimately become while it's still being made, and trying not to get it wrong about what elements will change."
Growth and Acquisitions
Before Dishonored, Bethesda itself underwent significant changes. The company published third-party projects like Rogue Warrior, Wet, and Sea Dogs. Part of Bethesda's image became linked to the quality of these titles. The situation was complicated by the fact that Bethesda Game Studios, known for The Elder Scrolls series, wasn't even called that – it was simply "Bethesda."
"I hated the confusion around Bethesda releasing a new game, and everyone thinking, 'Oh, it's Todd Howard's team.' And it really annoyed him. 'Why does everyone keep thinking I made Sea Dogs or something else?' So, we came up with different names for the studio and the publisher. And you know what? It still didn't work, damn it. No one could stop just saying 'Bethesda' – Bethesda this, Bethesda that, Bethesda, Bethesda, Bethesda."
A turning point for Bethesda came between 2009 and 2010 when the company began acquiring studios. First came id Software, followed by Arkane Studios, Tango Gameworks, and MachineGames. All these studios shared similar values: a focus on single-player projects, deep game design, and atmospheric first-person games. This allowed Bethesda to cultivate its own publishing style, offering projects that few others were making. Crucially, after these deals, the teams remained intact, and collaboration was built on respect and recognizing each other's strengths. Hines recalled that discussions with id Software began not with an acquisition, but with a desire to work together.
This shared "DNA" was evident at QuakeCon, a festival initially dedicated to Quake, which gradually transformed into a showcase for Bethesda's entire game lineup, where audiences enthusiastically embraced projects from various studios.
"We began to develop our own competencies and accumulate internal experience to avoid relying on external partners with their conflicts of interest. This proved useful: if you're working on weapons at Bethesda Game Studios, why not discuss with id Software how they make their guns so weighty and powerful? We wanted studios to create what they were interested in. All these people are building careers, supporting families, paying for education and rent – and we took the responsibility of caring for them seriously."
Balancing Creativity and Business
Hines emphasized that employees are first and foremost people. Bethesda tried to prioritize the team's well-being over established industry norms. For example, after Todd Howard complained about the exhausting E3 schedule, where he spent weeks showing the same game segment to journalists, the company changed its approach. For Fallout 4, they held one large show accessible to both press and players, significantly reducing the burden on developers.
This flexibility allowed them to defy conventional wisdom. According to Hines, they were repeatedly predicted to fail: Morrowind supposedly couldn't succeed on Xbox, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was said to "not survive" competition with Call of Duty, and releasing Oblivion in spring was considered madness. But the studio proved critics wrong, delivering successful titles and winning awards.
Hines remembers that this confidence in their games and people made the work special: he was proud that Bethesda allowed an honest look at the internal process, without shame for how things were run.
Mistakes and Lessons Learned
Looking back, Hines has few regrets, but one story still haunts him: the Fallout 76 Power Armor Edition bag controversy. Customers were promised a high-quality canvas West-Tek bag, but received a cheap nylon alternative. Bethesda initially changed the website description, cited material cost increases, and offered a small amount of in-game currency as an apology. It took seven months for players to receive the promised item. Hines himself only learned of the problem when his own collector's edition arrived.
"My first reaction was, 'When the hell did we add a canvas bag to this collector's edition?' Because the version I approved didn't have one. They were trying to add more value to the Collector's Edition. We constantly argued with the finance department about margins, you know? I would throw tantrums: 'We can't charge $300 for this; it's, damn it, insulting.' But in this case, they had good intentions. There really was a fabric shortage, and someone decided, 'We'll do this.'
"My biggest mistake was not immediately insisting that we manufacture and send bags to everyone who wanted them. I was still annoyed that the damn bag was added to the set without my knowledge and that this fabric shortage happened. It's probably the stupidest thing I did at Bethesda."
Challenges also arose with game titles. After Dishonored, Arkane Austin began a new project, conceived as a spiritual successor to System Shock. The player found themselves on a massive space station, battling aliens with abilities and ingenuity. The game was full of original ideas, from the station's design to unusual powers like transforming into a coffee cup. The concept was unique, but Bethesda insisted the project be named Prey.
This decision proved controversial: the name already belonged to a shooter about an alien-abducted Native American, which had its own fanbase, as well as the canceled Prey 2 from Human Head Studios, where the player was a bounty hunter in an alien world. Arkane's immersive sim had nothing in common with these projects, causing confusion for new audiences and irritation among fans of the original Prey.
"I definitely seriously angered some people inside the company because I fiercely resisted using that name. I was leading the charge, but many people from the team – branding, PR, community – were behind me, and we all felt that we were burdening the game with a name that made us spend more time explaining why it was called Prey than talking about what the game itself was about. I regret losing that battle. But believe me, there was no one on this planet who made more sincere efforts to convince management. The whole point is that we spent a huge amount of time discussing the name instead of the game itself – that's wasted energy. That's lost excitement. We could have turned that into something positive."
Partly due to the Prey experience, Tango Gameworks announced and launched Hi-Fi Rush on the same day. Bethesda didn't want to expend energy explaining why a studio known for survival horror was making a rhythm-action game. The game itself was meant to speak volumes. According to Xbox, the project attracted three million players, but in the era of subscriptions, this doesn't equate to three million sales. A year later, Microsoft closed the studio (it was later revived by Krafton), as well as Arkane Austin, which released the struggling Redfall.
A Look into the Future of the Industry
Hines states that he no longer works with these companies, so he isn't sure if everything he knew while in the industry is still relevant today. Nevertheless, he sees the consequences of decisions that he believes were shortsighted years ago. Subscriptions have become the new norm, and now you can't simply buy a product (here Hines refers more to film and music). If a subscription depends on content, one must balance the interests of the service and its managers with those who create the content. Without this, the subscription loses value. It's crucial to properly recognize, compensate, and value the work of creators, as it's not just about releasing a game, but about creating a product. This balance is currently disrupted, and many are suffering, including the developers themselves.
He compares the situation to music: short songs with quick choruses better suit Spotify's algorithms, and musicians effectively optimize their music for algorithms to be heard. As audience attention spans shrink due to short-form media and TikTok, game developers will have to fight for gamers' attention and money, sometimes adapting art to algorithms and trends. The modern industry demands constant game updates, events, and collaborations, and everyone wants titles to be "evergreen."
"Nobody wants to do the same thing over and over again. Nobody likes being forced to turn something into a series. Bethesda wasn't just Elder Scrolls, right? For a while, that was our entire property. We decided to take on Fallout because Todd Howard said we needed to stretch our creative muscles and go in different directions, and that would make our Elder Scrolls games even better."
The Bethesda That Was
In the early 2000s, Bethesda Game Studios faced pressure to continuously release The Elder Scrolls games. But Hines, Howard, and the entire team insisted on creative freedom for the studio. With each new Elder Scrolls, they started almost from scratch, redesigning every aspect of the game to offer gamers a fresh experience. Without experimentation, the series would have stagnated, much like Call of Duty.
This was also important for the developers themselves, who wanted to work on diverse projects in the future and might leave for other studios if creatively unfulfilled. Even from a business perspective, why waste skills and experience accumulated over years? By allowing creators to improve and experiment, a studio invests in the future and guarantees better games.
"Developers who make games are people. Yes, they are employees. But if you don't initially see them as people, but only as employees, you won't understand what motivates them. These are highly skilled artists, programmers, and designers who don't want to be confined to a small box, drawing the same thing over and over again."
Pete Hines' reflections offer a rare, deeply personal look into the soul of a company that shaped modern gaming. His insights remind us that behind every blockbuster title and every controversial decision lies a complex human story, driven by passion, creativity, and the relentless pursuit of innovation, even as the industry continually transforms.
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