Bethesda Boss Pete Hines Wants To See Closed System Walls Come Down

Pete Hines: "We as an industry need to start to move to not be so beholden to, 'I only make a thing for that machine and not this one."

[PavelBHunter]

This is pretty hypocritical from company that doesn't allow fallout 76 on Steam...

[italiangamer]

Its Pete Hines, what would you expect from a liar like him. He moaned against Sony for crossplay and now Fallout 76 wont even have it.

[PavelBHunter]

I forgot about that Sony/crossplay stuff, that's made it even worst...

[Kribwalker]

because sony only allowed crossplay a month before the game is gonna release. If sony said yes when they originally asked for it, i’m sure it would be there, but right now they said they need to focus on the beta and getting the game launched.
“We didn't work on a feature that wouldn't work on all platforms. So we put it aside to work on other things. Now that info has changed we will look into it, but not as we are only 6 weeks from launch. It'll have to wait before someone has time to look into it”

https://www.vgr.com/fallout...

[Nyxus]

@ Kribwalker: Pete Hines on Twitter: "Fallout 76 does not support crossplay, for a number of reasons. I have no idea if it ever will. But I assure you it is not on our radar right now as we focus on B.E.T.A. and Launch."

https://twitter.com/DCDeaco...

[Kribwalker]

@nyxus
Look at the article link i posted. It is a week after the tweet you posted. The tweet you posted was right after sony allowed cross-play and people were asking about it. They said before they asked and were turned down. Why would they build something if it wasn’t gonna be allowed?

[Nyxus]

@ Kribwalker: but why did Pete Hines tweet that? Why did he say that he 'has no idea if it ever will', which sounds like they were never even planning to (and the fact that there wasn't cross play between PC and XB1, which they could have allowed with or without Sony kind of supports that). And how is it Sony's fault when there are apparently 'a number of reasons'? Their explanations for the lack of cross play and their response to it just don't add up.

[UCForce]

@Kribwalker You know what he would flip the switch if Sony allowed it which they did. But this is way too hypocrites and backward from him. He’s definitely deserve being called a cheap and liar. Seriously, Bethesda is becoming EA baby.

[UltraNova]

Bethesda a thrid party multiplatform publisher wants no walls? Well shit thank GOD they spoke cause no one new this vital information....smh....

I guess its pretty easy for a software only publisher to wish for no exclusives and universal cross play when they dont have anything to risk, like you know a whole console developing, manufacturing, marketing and supporting hardware devision...

Context and reality awareness - both concepts we the consumers need in order to see behind the blatant self interest propaganda thrown at as.

Talking about propaganda...

Kribwalker,

We've been over this so please do your self a favor and save some face.... never try to defend Hines on the whole Cross-play thing because its blatantly obvious he hates Sony and he is lying (where's PC/xbox Xplay?).

[sinspirit]

@Kribwalker

Why are you so desperate to mislead anyone to believe you? Why don't you just find a hint of truth somewhere that you can actually pass on to others?

It doesn't matter what the statement a week later is. The prior words still stand and were spoken. The statement a week later had more time to shift attention elsewhere and not on themselves for not allowing it. We have small indie developers that flipped on multiplatform online like it was nothing, and went out of their way to do it "accidentally" to prove how easy it can be done. But, the big company that wanted to save some face tried to point blame at Sony to deflect that they didn't even plan on it anyways.

And, as said above. They didn't even provide crossplay from either console to the PC version, which was never out of the realm of possibility.

[Edito]

@Kribwalker

Please cut the crap... why they don't do crossplay with Xbox, PC and Switch? They just wanted free publicity for game i'm lucky enough for not enjoying their games they are not my type but they hypocrites.

[rainslacker]

@krib

Originally he said it was Sony's fault. Then, it was he had no idea, had no plans, and generally acted as if people were annoying him for even asking. After Sony showed they were open to it, it became a number of reasons. So, it's either just Sony, or a number of reasons. Or he could have just shut up, or after Sony allowed it made up some of about how it wouldn't be ready for launch, May be even still blaming Sony and keeping that flame war going, but saying they'd work on it as soon as they could. That May have pit him in a spot where he'd actually be held to his word though, and I don't think he cares as much ad he says.

And That's why I wouldn't take him seriously here.

[No Way]

The bias in these comments is astonishing lol. Of course Hines would say he doesnt ever know if itll happen - if sony had never approved cross play, at the time of his comment.

Sigh, fanboyism is stupid, lol.

[UCForce]

@No_Way How about you listen more valid comment than this ? These people have right to criticize Pete Hines hypocrites. There is fanboys and non fanboys. You should see the difference.

[sinspirit]

@No Way

You should understand the context first before replying then.

He stated, "I have no idea if it ever will" after Sony allowed crossplay.
You just said, "if sony had never approved cross play, at the time of his comment".

But, they did approve it, and like I said above. Crossplay isn't difficult to implement. Bethesda clearly just didn't want to go through the trouble of doing it but pawned it off on Sony for blame. Then after Sony allows it, they say they don't know if it will ever get crossplay. Then a week after that they say it's too late, when that should have been apparent right away.

They just wanted to deflect efforts towards Sony again with an excuse that took a week to make. Again, crossplay has been implemented by much smaller studios with little effort. And, it logically shouldn't be much work. It's just allowing the hidden ID for every online account access to a server.

[rainslacker]

Even if the walls game down, he'd find a way to not support something.

[PapaBop]

Damn, shut down in a single beautiful sentence, bravo!

[ThatDudeMunkee]

You do know why they are wanting to move all their games to Bethesda's launcher right? Pete Hines discussed that during QuakeCon 2018 and they were very clear behind their intentions of it. They want to be able to fix their games through their own reporting system, through their own way of grabbing information that they can use based on those reports to fix the games.

But it doesn't soften the fact that he made it clear that Fallout 76 might not ever have cross-play capabilities due to the current systems or future systems. It's a sad day since I REALLY hoped this title would be their first to break those barriers as far as console-based games are concerned.

[Thatguy-310]

You need exlusives to sell the console. That's never going to go away. Even if consoles vanish these companies are going to make exclusives to sell you on choosing THEIR service over another.

[Godmars290]

Exclusives are used to sell platforms. Be they consoles, handhelds, mobile devices, 3D rigs, PC graphics cars or apps.

[Thatguy-310]

I mean we have them with streaming video service as well. Netflix with shows like stranger things, HBO with game of thrones and so on. Companies are always going to have to sell their product and the main way to do it is by creating material that one can't get anywhere else

[Purrfection]

In the future it will be about exclusive 'services' and then hardware will become redundant. When you can stream to multiple platforms, much like Playstation Now is doing on the PC, you can reach farther without the $400 barrier to get the hardware. Netflix/Spotify does not require you to buy hardware, it's just an app that you install and one day that is going to be at the gaming level.

Of course even then we will still get the immaturity on the forums about how A service is faster than B or C service or has better content but the major player will be the one who can get the most 3rd party publishers. I would watch out for Amazon or Google.

[UCForce]

@Purrfection And we will lost our ownership. Do you think is good idea to go full digital in the future ? For me, it’s not good idea and dangerous.

[rainslacker]

Theoretically speaking, you could still have exclusives, with a single OS/API platform to build to.

That being said, I doubt MS is going to adopt Vulcan, or any future OGL version, within Xbox, so maybe he should be blaming MS for not using the more common outside Xbox/PC API's available.

The bigger problem would be the licensing terms and who gets those fees. One build/release means either no licensing fees for the console maker, and it's unlikely they'll give that up unless we go all digital, and they can make their money off the storefronts on their individual systems, but in doing so, I think that cross buy is likely to become obsolete.

If there isn't enough incentive in it for the console makers, then they're not going to bother with hardware. MAU's from actual revenue gaining services is the only way to overcome that, but if that was the console makers only way of making money, they'd still be better off going to services/software only....particularly in an unwalled system world.

In other words, it doesn't really matter what Pete Hines wants. He is in no way part of the platform market. Talk to Steam, MS, Sony, and Nintendo, and none of them will see any reason to bring the walls down. There isn't even anything to suggest that it would be good for the consumer either.

[AspiringProGenji]

Yeah right! Give MS ideas to bully Sony and Nintendo about sharing their exclusives with xbox. F off

[blm504]

I assume you don't like Microsoft right or wrong

[neutralgamer1992]

What does that have anything to do with? As a gamer ms have failed again and again relying on handful of IP's without much innovation or risk taking

The biggest selling point for Xbox one is that is plays old games

[one2thr]

And for $500 you can have the mostest powerfulest home console ever built....

[2pacalypsenow]

@one2thr yeah till the next one comes out

[UCForce]

Does it make any difference from MS and Nintendo ? I know recent events that happen to Sony this day and yesterday even before that. I knew Sony made many mistakes even the stupid one, but i’m not switching side to MS or Nintendo. Because both of them will make mistakes in the future as well and they will feel the same way like Sony was.

Bethesda loving to criticize Sony all days and all night long. Ugh.

[AspiringProGenji]

I like them! I use their operation system and their Office products constantly. Do I like Xbox? Yes and No, but this has nothing to do with my comment.

[Dragonscale]

@one, 500 bux for a console with no exclusives is almost funny.

[paintedgamer1984]

Honestly, after last gen and to a much greater extent this gen, i dont think i could even sit thru the main title screen boot up without cringing... let alone the u.i. or anything else. And im pretty sure im not the only one. MS would have to absolutely undeniably kill it next gen to even think about taking my mood from no fn thanks to a maybe... id love for ms to even give me a reason to feel indifferent about the console. As this gamer LOVED the 1st xbox and the 360 until around about my 3rd or 4th rrod.

[InTheZoneAC]

I'm assuming you don't like wlm right or wrong

[gangsta_red]

@neutralgamer1992

Exactly what does YOUR comment have to do with anything related to this article?

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Why should Sony or Nintendo be forced to share their exclusives? That's one of the main selling points for those consoles.

[Sm00thNinja]

Wut?!

[Abnor_Mal]

A few months ago during this cross play situation when Sony finally yes, and some started celebrating, I said they will becoming after PlayStation exclusives to be playable across all platforms. I said we have opened our doors to the enemy and let them in, exclusives were next, the end is nigh. Seems like the March continues.

[gangsta_red]

...give MS ideas to bully Sony...

...sharing exclusives with Xbox...

Do some of you even realize how far gone your comments are?

[rainslacker]

Technically speaking, it's more likely MS would have to give up DX to make this work. The walls exist beyond just the hardware itself, and the biggest wall is the API's used to build games...in this case, Vulcan and DX.

Vulcan is available on PC, although DX is actually more used for bigger games....or two versions are sometimes available. But outside Xbox or PC, every other gaming platform uses some form of OGL/Vulcan, and for the most part, OGL actually makes up a much larger percentage of the market of graphics API's.

[salmonade]

I hope Fallout 76 bombs so hard. I really dislike this guy also. Go back to single player games and update your damned engine. I'm really starting to dislike this company. Fallout 4 was boring asf and TOO EASY... even if you played on Hard.

[neutralgamer1992]

It will sell well because of fallout name and this is Bethesda so don't expect much change

Only thing I wanted from them was fallout 3/nv remaster but they ported skyrim to every system known to man but refuse to do fallout remaster

Witcher 3 showed how a proper open world RPG is done now R* just raised the bar for open world living world. Bethesda won't be able to compete

Cyberpunk will be replacement for fallout

[PhantomS42]

Just like Metal Gear Survive sold well because of the Metal Gear name? Nope, 76 is going to take a huge hit being a game that doesn't have much hype and the more info comes out about it the more people dislike the idea of the game as a whole.

[Akarogg]

Everybody wants something

[sinspirit]

It really does need to bomb to ensure that we keep our regular Fallout and Elder Scrolls single player games from being ruined. We just want some form of squad based multiplayer.

[CaptainObvious878]

"... and update your damned engine"

Please no!

Put it in the scrap heap where it should have gone 10 years ago and build an entirely new engine.

[TheColbertinator]

Pete Hines yapping away again.

[fiveby9]

Yep, Pete Hines.....smh

[rainslacker]

I honestly don't know how in the matter of less than 4 months, he can go from the rather amusing, able to laugh at his company and himself persona at E3, to the bitter and antagonistic douche he's become recently.

I know in the past he's been the same way, but more lately, he's been more hostile towards Sony for no real good reason except to get his name and game out to the press.

I'm not sure what he thinks he's gaining by antagonizing Sony. Sony has the largest user base right now, and while he may be ingratiating himself to a small group of Xbox fan boys, although I think it's not even that much with them either, he's not really gaining the respect of anyone in the PS Community who follows this stuff. I don't see any benefit to have stupid inner political nonsense attached to his game, which is already has a lukewarm reception within the community.

The game will sell on the Fallout name, but its not good to piss off the community, even if it's the community you aren't selling to....because people seem to not really appreciate people who are too unfair.

[TheColbertinator]

The gaming community approves of his anti-Sony campaign. So do I.

[LiamKreptic]

Jesus...fuck you pete...you lying con

[DefenderOfDoom2]

Why should other tv show and movie streaming services get to run GAME of THRONES when HBO paid for the production.

[badz149]

thank god for torrents

[rainslacker]

I've found for what few shows I like on these paid channels, its still cheaper to just buy the season on disc when it releases than subscribe for a whole year.

[2pacalypsenow]

I would like to see a Bethesda game that’s not littered with bugs. But we can’t have everything now can we Pete

[rainslacker]

I'd like to see a Bethesda game that achieves in its open world what RDR2 does in its world, at the same level of quality, with the same level of graphical detail, and the same level of interaction.

R* really set the bar high, regardless of how one feels about RDR2's flaws, and for the most part, RDR2 isn't littered with bugs that I can see.

The next ES and Fallout are likely to be like the last ES and Fallout in this regard, and not push the genre forward at all. I hope for all the criticism that Spider-Man got for not pushing the genre forward, that the reviewers hole Bethesda's games to the same standards....but as you said, we can't have everything we want, and they'll all go on about how awesome it is because it's so amazing for vague awesomeness.

[2pacalypsenow]

R* are synonymous with quality just like Naughty Dog.

[psuedo]

All Bethesda games I buy will be used, and honestly I wouldn't miss Elder Scrolls if Bethesda died. Someone would get Fallout and hopefully do the series justice.

[rainslacker]

I'd miss the awesome trailer videos they make for Elder Scrolls.

That being said, Bethesda could die, and Elder Scrolls could go on. Bethesda is owned by Zenimax, and if they felt that Bethesda was getting too big for its britches, they could just take the franchises and give them to someone else.

More likely scenario is they'd get rid of the people at Bethesda causing problems, and restructure, and maybe look at what was wrong, and maybe spend resources to improve it....assuming that there was enough reason to do that if the games kept selling.

Granted, the structure of Bethesda/Zenimax is such that Zenimax is pretty complacent with how they operate. But Pete Hines could be told to dial it back, or shown the door, as I don't believe he is a majority shareholder in the company. He's often wrongly attributed as the head and boss of Bethesda, when his actual title is VP of PR and marketing. Personally, I feel he's overstepping his bounds as he's going beyond that, to critique the industry on what he thinks it should do, instead of just promoting Bethesda's place in said industry.

If you look at Bethesda, Last I checked, Todd Vaughn is actually in charge of the development over there....unless he was replaced. He doesn't get as much attention in the media though, even though I think he is probably more relevant to the direction of Bethesda's future than Hines is.

[Realms]

I guess he still hasn't learned his lesson of when to shut the hell up, this arrogant dumb ass should focus on up grading the physics engine instead of making off cuff remarks. Exclusives are what define a console they always have it's just a part of gaming.

[fiveby9]

All console makers love to differentiate their product by making or funding unique content. Last I checked, many of MS 1st party are Xbox only titles such as HALO. And those first party which are also on PC are conveniently running on Windows 10 for Play Anywhere. Bethesda is not harmed by multiple console makers platforms. They sell to consumers on all 3. Pete Hines is just a marketing guy but boy can he step in it. He does more harm than good in many gamer's eyes.

[capjacksparrow]

When it's to his liking, it seems.

[Dragonscale]

How do exclusives even affect a third party publisher fgs. So salty over PS4 domination lol. Exclusives are why PS4 is winning and they will be going nowhere.

[MrVux000]

Bethesda has really become one my most disliked companies in recent years. Not only because of quality of their recent game's and business practices , but because of statements made by the likes of Mr.Hines here.

I'm sorry to say, but Bethesda is slowly but surely turning into another EA, another company that i used to love.

[jocomat9]

Except they just announced all dlc will be free for 76. That alone is a practice we should be supporting.

[MrVux000]

Yes, let's support Fallout 76, a full priced game that has microtransactions.

No thank you, I don't support that kind of business practice.

[rainslacker]

I actually like some of their games, when they aren't titled fallout or Elder Scrolls....although those games are good enough too.

I really just dislike Pete Hines. I liked their self-deprecating attitude at E3, and found it kind of refreshing that they really seem to realize what people were saying about them.

Unfortunately, you have this guy, who has gone on to be pretty vitriolic to a major console maker who has worked with Bethesda quite closely over the years, and has never done anything to give them reason to be so critical of them, and have helped Bethesda make a lot of money through the years.

I've seen other devs at Bethesda make public comments, and they are nowhere near as douchey as this guy. Overall, they seem to respect gamers, and the console makers(where relevant), and don't just try to stir the pot. They talk about their products, and just leave it at that.

Then you have Hines, who despite being in charge of Marketing and PR over at Bethesda, seems that he can only now get this game in the news by making stupid comments, sometimes criticizing things that he really isn't even willing to support. For what purpose? Personal agenda? Marketing of a game? Because he is just bad at his job?

The man should be reigned in, because it's never good when you end up making a bunch of vitriolic comments for no good purpose, and even if you have a good purpose, it's best not to keep poking the bear, as it will eventually catch up to you, and your bosses will eventually want to distance themselves from you.

[UniqueGuy91]

That's never happening. Even if streaming becomes mainstream(which is not possible at least for the next gen.), the exclusive games will always be there to sell their respective services.

[william_cade]

hahaahahhaahaahhah- Does he actually believe this or is it just a stream of conscious thing?

[r3f1cul]

doesnt allow fallout on steam, signs limited beta deal with microsoft AAAAANNNDDDD wont allow crossplay ... ok pete please tell me more ;)

[Mr_Writer85]

"We as an industry need to start to move to not be so beholden to, 'I only make a thing for that machine and not this one.'

So Fallout VR for PSVR confirmed? I mean practice what you preach...

[Vizigoth04]

This is like saying all car companies should put their engines in whatever make of car another manufacturer can make. I believe if you go do this road you will find quickly a lack of quality in Videogames. It's a luxury. An expensive hobby. Choose the driver of your hubby wisely.

[Silly gameAr]

Shut up.

[MasterCornholio]

"The closed system walls are coming down, and they have to," he said. "Streaming is going to accelerate those walls coming down. We're all here for the consumers. If you're going to create rules that don't benefit the consumers but somehow you think benefit your enterprise, you're mistaken. Consumers will go elsewhere. You have to pay attention to what the consumer wants."

Those last sentences is exactly what happened to Xbox One at the beginning of this generation. But I doubt consumers are going to change sides because of streaming or walls between the platforms. The truth is most people only game on one platform not 4-5.

[sampsonon]

what an idiot. some of the greatest games ever made was because of exclusivity. competition is what drives the market, not this bull.

[InTheZoneAC]

Lol they're just parrots for MS and the sheep will listen to their word

[bigmalky]

No.

[Akarogg]

If you don't buy Dreams all you guys bitching will ring utterly hollow

[Smokehouse]

Only make games for PC then. It’s easy to tell somebody to give up their platform when you are a 3rd party publisher. I like this guy but what a dumb thing to say.

[inxine]

wow, hypocrite.

[Thundercat77]

Pete Hines and Aaron Greensburg are on the same boat.

Liars, delusional and hypocrites.