Bethesda Softworks - Pete Hines Interview #2 @ Edge

There's a second part of Edge's review with Bethsoft's Pete Hines, talking general business. There's no new game information, so skip it unless this quote grabs you:

It seems like all the games you're publishing are ambitious, risky projects. Are you not tempted to make the cookie-cutter corridor shooter that’s a sure-fire multimillion dollar hit?
I certainly think that we never want to do anything derivative. We don't even want to do stuff that's derivative of stuff we've already made. We definitely don't want to do stuff that's derivative of something that somebody else has made. You look at a game like Prey 2 or you look at a game like Skyrim, and I use those two examples because they're both sequels of something that's already been done, one by us, one not by us, but in both cases there are wholesale changes. We're not afraid to change things up, we're not afraid to let the dev team try something new. They want to explore the universe. And we're the kind of publisher that says, "If that's what you think makes the best game, then go for it."

[People ask us] for a game like Skyrim or Prey 2, why doesn't it have multiplayer? Well our question is always the opposite when we talk to a developer. If you're doing mulitplayer, why are you doing multiplayer? What are you trying to accomplish by doing multiplayer? Because if you're doing it just to check a box or because every other publisher says you’ve got to have multiplayer, then just drop it, don't bother, it's a waste of time, it's a giant distraction and it'll make for a worse overall game. We want the best game possible, if that's a single player game that's fifteen to twenty hours then make that! Don't waste your time on features that don't make the game better.