Bethesdaveteran Pete Hines is leaving the company after 24 years, stepping down as senior vice president of global marketing and communications. This comes just weeks after the launch ofStarfield, Bethesda’s last big launch since Fallout 76 in 2018.
In a statement, Hines says he is retiring altogether, suggesting he isn’t leaving to join another studio. He says he will use his spare time to explore new “interests and passions”, but emphasises that “this is certainly not goodbye by any means”, and will “never stop” being part of the Bethesda community.
“After 24 years, I have decided my time at Bethesda Softworks has come to an end,” says Hines, releasing a statement onTwitter. “This was not a decision I came to easily or quickly, but after an amazing career, culminating in the incredible launch of Starfield, it feels like the time is right.
“Working with the amazing people, teams, and studios at Bethesda has been the greatest experience of my life. I’m incredibly proud of everything we have done together, and I’m genuinely excited to see the amazing things they will create next.”
Bethesda games take years to develop, so it makes sense to see Hines leave before the next one gets underway. If he were to stay on and leave part way through eitherThe Elder Scrolls 6orFallout 5, it may disrupt the process - and if he were to see them through until the end, he might still be there in the 2030s.
Bethesda has also paid tribute to Hines, describing his work as “integral” to the company. The team thanks him for his 24 years of leadership and wishes him luck with whatever he gets up to next. There’s no word on who will replace him in his role as VP of global marketing and communications just yet, but whoever does will become one of the faces of the company during showcases.
During his 24 years at Bethesda, Hines made the credits of all the studio’s big releases. Whether it was pushingThe Elder Scrollseven further into the mainstream withSkyrim, or overseeing Bethesda’s acquisition of theFalloutseries, so many changes came under his watch. That’s not even getting intothe Microsoft purchase in 2020, bringing Bethesda under theXboxumbrella for $7.5 billion. Now, all of the franchises that Hines helped build will likely be Xbox exclusives, starting with Starfield, which hit PC and Xbox last month.
As Bethesda enters this new era, we’ll have to wait and see what it gets up to post-Starfield. We already know thatThe Elder Scrolls 6 will be its next priority, although it’s not clear when the studio will have anything to show off.
