Do you think it takes away from the quality of the work? Todd Howard for example, is the lead director on 2 of the most popular franchises in gaming today. That's a monumental task when you think about it. Most others only do it for 1 franchise, some of which aren't even close to the brand recognition of TES/Fallout. Ken Levine has only the BioShock franchise to worry about for example. Do you think managing 2 insanely popular IP's is too much?

It really comes down to the management and support structure of the company and project, as well as the abilities of the individual.

In a well-defined, larger company, a lead manager will have much better support and tools as well as have less of a role in the nitty-gritty, instead being more of a figurehead and long-term planner than an implementer.

The same applies to all companies. Many companies have various major projects and products and have head officers in charge of them. They have officers beneath them dealing with a lot of it.