Oblivion’s combat was redesigned three times to match Todd Howard’s vision of a “great game”

Pete Hines, former head of marketing at Bethesda, revealed that during the development of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the team redesigned the combat system three times. The reason was Todd Howard’s philosophy: “great games are played, not made.”

According to Hines, Howard’s approach required the team to focus not on their internal vision of “correct” combat, but on how it felt during testing. Any idea was considered successful only if it worked in the game and appealed to players. That’s why the team deliberately withheld details about the combat system until they were confident in the final version, instead focusing on other elements that were guaranteed to engage fans.

Bethesda has applied a similar approach in other projects. For example, the Oblivion remaster did not receive a large marketing campaign or pre-orders. Despite this, the game launched successfully, though it had serious optimization issues. After patch 1.2, the Steam rating dropped to 61%, with players reporting low performance, freezes, FPS drops, and crashes even during saves.

Hines also cited an example from Dishonored. A QA tester accidentally discovered the ability to possess a fish, even though this mechanic was originally intended only for humans and rats. Rather than fixing it as a bug, the team turned it into a feature: level designers created hidden paths through pipes and waterways, adding new stealth options for players.

“This shows how accidental discoveries can become real game features,” Hines concluded.