More Skyrim expansions weren’t “on the table” at Bethesda as devs needed to “exercise new creative muscles”, explains ex-designer

Released in 2011, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim quickly became one of the best-selling games of all time. As Bethesda’s biggest hit, there was a chance for the game studio to continue making expansions for the game for years to come. However, as lead designer Bruce Nesmith explains, the studio needed to leave Skyrim behind.

In an interview with VideoGamer, Nesmith explained that Bethesda could’ve spent years without making a new game and continuing to chase “every last nickel” out of the game, but no one at the studio wanted to do that.

Why Bethesda left Skyrim behind

After the release of the Dragonborn expansion in 2012, Bethesda mostly left Skyrim behind. While remasters and very minor content continued to release, the studio went full-steam ahead on Fallout 4, then Fallout 76, then Starfield.

“That was not on the table,” Nesmith told us. “Imagine if Skyrim had never been made, and all we kept doing was just completely reinventing Oblivion. You know, what a crying shame that would be. All the innovations in Skyrim, technically, graphically, design-wise, everything else, just not there because we just wanted to keep making more of the same.”

“Bethesda has always wanted to be a multi-title studio”

BRUCE NESMITH – LEAD DESIGNER ON SKYRIM

Nesmith explained that “every developer wants to make something new”, and Bethesda is a studio that supports that. For the Skyrim lead, moving onto Fallout 4 after The Elder Scrolls and then Starfield after Fallout was a “relief” as it allowed everyone to “exercise new creative muscles”. However, that shift wasn’t for everyone.

“There are some people, admittedly, who weren’t attracted to Fallout or weren’t attracted to Starfield, who came to Bethesda simply because they wanted to work on fantasy titles,” Nesmith said. “That’s going to be true everywhere, but Bethesda has always wanted to be a multi-title studio, and I think it’s a smart thing to do. I think it’s good for the people who work there. I think it’s good for the industry. I think it’s good for the consumers.”

Consoles couldn’t handle it anyway

As a game developed for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the massive RPG was already pushing those consoles to the limit. While Bethesda was excited to move onto new projects anyway, the current generations of consoles couldn’t have handled another expansion, especially on PlayStation.

“There actually are limits, the consoles have memory limits so you can’t hold all the DLC at once,” Nesmith said. “Both Oblivion for the platforms available at its time, and Skyrim for the platforms available at its time, were straining those limits. You physically could not add another DLC without breaking the game.”

Of course, when Skyrim was re-released on Xbox One and PS4 in the form of the Special Edition, the game could’ve handled another expansion. However, with the studio already finishing up Fallout 4 and moving onto Starfield at the same time, there was no time for more Skyrim.

Nevertheless, Skyrim has survived through the efforts of the mod community with many fans teaming up to create expansion-sized mods for the fantasy RPG. This sentiment has continued onto other Bethesda games, resulting in fantastic experiences like Fallout London, and upcoming mods like Fallout: Neuvo Vegas.

For more Bethesda news, check out why the studio likely won’t move to Unreal Engine like other Xbox franchises or read a look back at Oblivion’s hated horse armour DLC.

Since leaving Bethesda in 2021, Nesmith has returned to game development at new studio NEARstudios. The veteran game developer has also published numerous novels including Mischief Maker, Glory Seeker and more.