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Todd Howard (born 1970 or 1971) is an American video game designer, director, and producer. He serves as director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he has led the development of the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls series.

In 2009, GamePro magazine named Howard one of the "Top 20 Most Influential People in Gaming" over the last 20 years. He was also named one of IGN's "Top 100 Game Creators of All Time".

Early life

Todd Howard was born in Lower Macungie Township, Pennsylvania. He has an elder brother, Jeff. He developed an interest in computers, particularly video games, at a very young age. He considers Wizardry and Ultima III: Exodus to be inspirations for his future games. He is a 1989 graduate of Emmaus High School in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. In 1993, he graduated from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, with a major in finance/business, despite his desire to create video games, later saying that "it seemed like the easiest path to get through college".

After obtaining Wayne Gretzky Hockey, during the Holiday break of his senior year in college, Howard visited the offices of the game's developer, Bethesda Softworks, which he passed by daily on his commute to and from school. As he asked for a job at the company, he was rejected and told that he needed to finish school as a prerequisite. After completing school, he went back to Bethesda for a job but was rejected again. Following his graduation, Howard was rejected again by Bethesda Softworks due to a lack of job opportunities at the time. Instead, he started working for a smaller game company in Yorktown, Virginia, which enabled him to visit several conventions like the Consumer Electronics Show, where continued approaching Bethesda Softworks to request being hired.

Career

Bethesda Softworks

Howard was eventually recruited by Bethesda Softworks in 1994, originally as a producer. His first game development credit for Bethesda Softworks was as producer and designer of The Terminator: Future Shock and Skynet, followed by design on The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, which was released in 1996. He was the project leader and designer of The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard released in 1998. Howard was the project leader and designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and for the expansions that followed. He led the creation of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and all of its downloadable content. After this, he was the game director and executive producer of Fallout 3. He said Bethesda's philosophy for The Elder Scrolls games was to allow people to "live another life, in another world".

He returned to The Elder Scrolls series to lead the development of its fifth installment, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which was released in November 2011. Howard directed Fallout 4, which was announced with the release of its first official trailer on June 3, 2015.

Speaker

Howard is a frequent speaker at industry events, conferences, and in magazine interviews. His games have been featured in Newsweek, CNN, USA Today, and The Today Show.

He spoke to developers at the 2009 D.I.C.E. Summit, sharing his three rules of game development:

• Great games are played, not made. "You can have the greatest design document ever made, and you're going to change 90 percent of it as soon as you play the game."
• Keep it simple. "Doing something really well takes time, more time than you think it will. Simple systems acting together create complexity that players can appreciate."
• Define the experience. "Don't define your game by a list of bullet points... define it by the experience you want people to have."

Howard returned as a keynote speaker at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit. He said developers should ignore demographics and installed base, and follow their passions, saying that "if install base really mattered, we'd all make board games, because there are a lot of tables".

Works

Awards and recognition

Howard was named "Best Game Director" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in 2012. In 2014, he received the Lara of Honor, Germany's lifetime achievement award for gaming. Howard is one of a few developers to have created five consecutive Game of the Year award winners, with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4.

References

1. ^ Musgrove, Mike (August 15, 2005). "Out of the Dark and Into the Spotlight". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2018. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
2. "Around the Web: Interviews edition | Bethesda Blog". Bethblog.com. May 7, 2009. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
3. "IGN - Top 100 Game Creators of All Time". IGN. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
4. ^ Callahan, Marion (October 28, 2008). "Valley natives have action-packed careers with fairy tale endings". The Morning Call. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
5. ^ Hanson, Ben (January 13, 2011). "Road To Skyrim: The Todd Howard Interview". Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
6. Remo, Chris (October 13, 2008). "Falling Into Fallout 3: Director Todd Howard Talks Scope And Evolution". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on May 8, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
7. "Fallout 3 Q&A - E3 Thoughts And More". GameSpot. August 2, 2007. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
8. Howard, Todd. "The RPG for the Next Generation". Archived from the original on January 24, 2010.
9. Hussain, Tamoor (June 3, 2015). "Fallout 4 Officially Confirmed for PC, Xbox One, PS4". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 17, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
10. Totilo, Stephen (February 20, 2009). "DICE 2009: The Following Colorful Wisdom Is From Todd Howard". MTV. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
11. "Todd Howard D.I.C.E. 2012 Opening Keynote Address". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
12. Remo, Chris (February 20, 2009). "DICE 09: Bethesda's Howard On Supreme Playability". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
13. Grandstaff, Matt (May 12, 2014). "Bethesda Blog - LARA to Honor Todd Howard". Bethesda Blog. Archived from the original on July 24, 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

• American video game designers
• American video game directors
• American video game producers
• College of William & Mary alumni
• Emmaus High School alumni
• Fallout series developers
• Living people
• The Elder Scrolls
• ZeniMax Media
• Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame
• People from Pennsylvania