Howdy all. Hope it's okay to put this question here.


Today I've been having a disagreement with someone as to how Bethesda Game Studios develop their games. I'm not to say just yet which camp I fall in but appreciate it if as many of you who might know of such things comment with your opinion.


One of us thinks that BGS is essentially split into two teams and that both Fallout and Elder Scrolls games are in full production at all times. So, for example, as soon as the DLC for Fallout 3 was complete full production on Fallout 4 was ramped up. All this while another team is beavering away at Skyrim, and as soon as the DLC for that game was complete Elder Scrolls VI went into full production.


Now the other person thinks that BGS fully commits on one game at a time. So as the as DLC for Oblivion was complete they got cracking on Fallout 3 and have since alternated between the Fallout and Elder Scrolls licenses. There might be some overlap with concept artists getting to work on the next game before the current one is out, but on the whole they're fully committed to one project at a time.


Which one is it?

It's something like this.

GAME A GAME B GAME C

Full team work on GAME A A few guys work on pre-production ----------------------------

GAME A is released, half the team continue to work on GAME A DLCs Half team start to work on new GAME B ----------------------------

GAME A DLCs released, the half move over to GAME B Full team work on the new GAME B A few guys work on pre-production

------------------------------ GAME B is released, half the team continue to work on Game B DLCs Half team start to work on new GAME C

------------------------------ GAME B DLCs released, the half move over to GAME C Full team work on the new GAME C

During the pre release vids and conjecture etc by Bethesda for Skyrim it was indicated that there is overlap. So as one game nears its release date their next title is already in the planning stage. Resource split is unclear, but probably like 90/10 until release then it switches to like 10/90 with the small crew concentrating on post production patches and dlc.


Don't quote me....I don't work there!



Edit...Ha.ha.....Ninja'd by Pseron....so yeah his is more detailed, but thats about right