Kurt Kuhlmann explains why he left Bethesda and his vision for Elder Scrolls 6

Pcgamer reports that Kurt Kuhlmann, the longtime Elder Scrolls "loremaster", has said why he left Bethesda in 2023 after more than 20 years at the studio.

Kuhlmann told the outlet that Bethesda's rapid growth and multi-studio structure changed how decisions were made and left developers feeling disconnected from senior management. He described "communication breakdowns" during Starfield's development, layers of management filtering choices that once were decided face-to-face, and a shift in lead roles from hands-on design to managerial oversight. He says he preferred being a designer and that the studio's evolving structure reduced the kinds of hands-on work he enjoyed.

He also said Todd Howard had verbally promised him the lead design role on The Elder Scrolls 6 after Skyrim, a position he expected after years waiting for the project — "I've been waiting 11 years to be the lead on TES6." Bethesda declined to comment, and Kuhlmann says he doubts Howard would acknowledge the promise. He has shared a creative idea that TES6 could have played like "The Empire Strikes Back," with the Thalmor prevailing to set up a sequel, but he doubts Bethesda would produce a game with a "bad" ending or a decade-long cliffhanger; for now he says he doesn't know where TES6 will be and is watching from the outside.

Key Topics

Culture, Kurt Kuhlmann, Bethesda, Todd Howard, Starfield, Thalmor