Elder Scrolls And Fallout: Bethesda's Video Game Industry

Known for their popular video game series, the Elder Scrolls and Fallout, Bethesda Games Studios (often shortened to ‘Bethesda') is an American video game development and production company that was established in 2002 (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.). This paper employs a ‘political economy' method to investigate, analyze, and explore the ownership structures that are characteristic to this media company. To draw upon the work of Timothy Havens and Amanda D. Lotz "media do not fulfill essential human needs," however, "many people nevertheless see media as central to their lives" (Havens and Lotz). Because media play an important role in contemporary society, it is imperative that the "instances, mechanisms, and occurrences" that underline the

Bethesda is highly aware of their acclaim in the video game industry and takes pride in their accomplishments, introducing themselves as "one of the industry's most respected and accomplished game development studios" (ZeniMax Media) on the main page of their website. They also cite the various awards they have received and describe themselves as an "award-winning development team known around the world for their groundbreaking work" (ZeniMax Media). However, Bethesda's values and beliefs as a company are outlined by their public relations and marketing manager Pete Hines, who in an interview with GamesRadar said that "[we're] doing some things that are different and cool and unique … [and] that all ties in – I think very well – with what we feel like our identity is at Bethesda" (Stone). So, while they are eager to highlight their past successes and continue to expand upon those products, Bethesda also makes it clear that they want to test different paths and strive for

However, there are naturally important figures within the organization, such as their director and executive producer, Todd Howard, who manages the development and production activities of their artistic team. According to Bethesda's LinkedIn page, their team consists of approximately 100 to 200 artists (LinkedIn), depending on the size of their current projects, who work closely with one another in the creation of their video games. In the interview cited above, public relations and marketing manager Pete Hines also explains that all team members are invited, even encouraged, to share their ideas and suggestions, though final decisions are made at top level