Todd Howard Is the Video Game World's Christopher Nolan

The Bethesda director is lost in space and pushing the boundaries of the medium. In a rare, in-depth interview, Howard opens up about 'Starfield,' the game he's waited for his entire life.

[italiangamer]

This guy is not even worthy of a Christopher Nolan's pinky toe.

[Eonjay]

Todd Howard is the Todd Howard of the Video Game World.
And nothing more.

[VenomUK]

Todd Howard is the Peter Molyneux of the Video Game World.

With a sprinkling of the genius of Miyamoto, Kojima and Chris Roberts. And the fantasy storytelling genius of Tolkien and R.R. Martin, and the sci-fi storytelling genius of Asimov and C. Clark.

[peppeaccardo]

With the only difference that Nolan's movies are ALL a work of art and an exquisite attempt to do something new with this media .... on the other end Bethesda's games are _______ <----- LEFT EMPTY ON PURPOSE, but you get the idea !

[notachance]

People got all worked up purely because of the exclusivity, both the haters and lovers. I’ve seen comments of people who never played a single bethesda game before suddenly loved it like it’s their own child, or haters that got angry like it killed their parents.

If it’s multiplat you guys would’ve just go “oh it’s skyrim in space”

[jambola]

Really? The comments said those things? Or you just made it up in your head that they never played the games before?

[RpgSama]

On this "opinion" piece alone, please let's ban Esquire going forward.

[Vengeance1138]

"It just works" / shrug
- Todd Howard

[Walalon]

16 times the details!!

[gold_drake]

No.

[Terry_B]

Please what?

[Futureshark]

Christopher Nolan would be dry-retching if he read that.

[mkis007]

Hes more like m night shyamalan. Which isnt a total insult...but it way more accurate.

[PapaBop]

This.. when he hits the mark, it's usually amazing, but when he misses.. it's complete dumpster fire.

[dumahim]

I'm not seeing it. Shyamalan tends to be trying something different with each movie.

[mkis007]

I never said it was perfect...jist that i cant think of any other big name that has a few hits but also some missess in his carrier...

[Profchaos]

One good game won't make me forget about 76

[senorfartcushion]

What a dumb comparison?

Would you even a want to be referred to as someone else as a creator? I'd be offended.

I'm me, not anyone else. EFF you.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Way to effectively capitalize words to create a larger impact, lol ;)

[Bhuahahaha]

todd howard is the video game world's howard the duck

[Shane Kim]

Haha thanks for the laugh

[Terry_B]

..somehow I doubt you ever read one of the old Howard the Duck Comics.

[Reaper22_]

Lol..you mad? It's not Todd Howard's fault that this article was written. You guys are in your feelings about Starfield getting praise only because it's not on Playstation ? Or is it you thought that only sony devs can make a great game? This is a good thing for xbox and the industry. Competition is a good thing. This will burn some fan boys for a while but they'll get over it. You win some, you lose some. Microsoft has all the infinity stones now but sony will be OK after this loss.

[Chocoburger]

Don't you dare insult my precious Howard the Duck! 🤣🦆😂

[blackblades]

What's up with all the weird talk surrounding him and starfield like he created some masterpiece. Come back to reality people

[Kaze88]

No, hes the next Peter Molyneux. All about the hype and lies. They made a good Bethesda game that is not THAT buggy, that's all they did, nothing more.

[Crows90]

Right? I just wrote a similar comment...glad to see I'm not the only one seeing the similarities.

[sadraiden]

He's like the dark souls of people.

[monkey602]

This donkey gets entirely too much praise

[EvertonFC]

He's definitely got one of them faces you just want to punch 😂🤣

[lucian229]

Oh look simp articles.

[SimpleSlave]

I did not write this...

[DynDasE]

Nope. Not even close.
None of his games are 10/10.

[Crows90]

More like a different more successful and likable version of Peter molyneuax

[ravens52]

Lol.

[thecodingart]

God no..

[CrimsonWing69]

Like hell he is.

[InUrFoxHole]

God Howard.... Ty for Starfield

[anast]

This is exactly what I mean when I say game writers have no concept of what it is to be a critic and they are blind in the areas that they are supposed to be knowledgeable.

[aaronaton]

So what does that make Hideo Kojima....Jesus Christ?

[InUrFoxHole]

A clown 🤡

[Ashunderfire86]

Todd Howard is not Oppenheimer 🤯 Heck he is not even Barbieheimer!

[MoneyMadness]

I can always count on the media to give me a good laugh.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

No, no he is not, Fallout 4 wasn’t good enough to earn that comparison, and Starfield might be short of that comparison too (I’m only 5 hours in).

You’re thinking of From Software.

Always challenging, never straightforward.

[TheKingKratos]

Has the world gone mad ?!

[Aloymetal]

Nah, it's just the Western biased media especially those here in the U.S just simping and creating a false image of their preferred platform, been a long time since they got a small win so they take any mundane opportunity to hype anything related their irrelevant and beloved games//platfiorm.

[shinoff2183]

Actually would just like to point out. The Xbox does make its home territory in the u.s. but ps still outsells it and always has except first years of the ps3

[Vithar]

LOl wtf is this, not in a million years

[WiiBoxStation]

🤣

[Lamplighter123]

They have both been going downhill since for the last decade...

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Dunkirk often gets high praise….

[poppatron]

This is fantastic. I’m shocked there isn’t a single gamer or game industry aware employee at Esquire that knows how laughable this is. I suppose if you squint really hard there perhaps are some parallels, but it means almost entirely overlooking any money hungry misstep or outright lie Howard has tripped himself up on countless times. Nolan has arguably not had a single bad film

[MarkSony2]

This article is embarrassing

[DarXyde]

Why? Because he made Interstellar and it reminds Esquire of Starfield?

If we're basing it on narrative chops, I don't really agree. I might be more inclined to say someone like Hidetaka Miyazaki where the endings are very ambiguous (really, what would you say is the "good ending" of any FromSoft game?). If we're basing it on polish, neither are fit for that because their games always release a bit rough, which isn't Nolan's style.

And before anyone says Kojima, he's far more of a Kubrick-level auteur who makes what he wants to make, be perfectionist about it, and develop a "misunderstood masterpiece" that typically has a cult following that ages well with more people as time goes on.

[Stanjara]

Scummy car salesman is my first thought.

[talocaca]

Lol....this is one of the most ridiculous articles yet 🤣

[shinoff2183]

Nah. Not even close. Look starfield has been a fantastic game but come on people

[NEVMOR]

Are they trying to insult Christopher Nolan?

[gleepot]

i like todd a lot, but what

[RiseNShine]

For me Ken Levine is way closer, Nolan is a visionary and is always innovating the medium, Ken Levine did exactly that with Bioshock 1 and Infinite, they were absolutely mindblowing is pushing the medium in terms of gameplay and storytelling. I adore Todd Howard, but all his games are a constant refining the old TES formula over and over, which means creating fantastic games, but far from the level of brilliance and creativity of Ken Levine or Nolan.

[Flakegriffin]

How disrespectful to Christopher Nolan..

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Alright this is the funniest article Ive seen in a while.....it just works

[1nsomniac]

Haha what!? How does that even remotely make sense!?

[MetalNCarnet]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[mastershredder]

Here we go with the bootlickers worshiping their director, mascot, and figurehead gods. Barf.

[derek]

He is kind of like Nolan in that their work is extremely overrated.

[blacktiger]

Christopher Nolan loved by everyone including marvel fans.

Now Todd Howard? Forget playstation fans and Xbox fans, even bethesda fans don't like him with all the lies.

[WolfSeed]

Todd is getting old =‘(

[Shimsok]

The only person worthy of this honor that I can think of Hideo Kojima. That man pushed storytelling in video gaming like no one else at the time had, and there was always a story beat you could never afford to miss.

[Pyrofire95]

Barf
He's a used car saleman.

[Chocoburger]

Makes sense since I don't care for either one of their works.

[isarai]

No.

[kirankiran]

Christopher Nolan is my favourite