View source for Todd Howard

{{Infobox person
|type             =developer
|image            =Todd Howard 2024.png
|image desc       =Todd in 2024
|other names      =ToddBethesda (Reddit)
|games            =FO3, FO4, FO76, FOTV, FOS
|date of birth    =1970<!--- Sources differ on October 6 or April 25 --->
|imdb             =nm1937470
|homepage         =
|wikipedia        =Todd Howard
|mobygames        =http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,16249/
|other links      =[[Todd Howard/Meet the Fallout 3 devs|Meet the Fallout 3 devs]]
}}

{{Quotation|Entertainment is an essential part of our lives and games can do things that nothing else in entertainment can. They can transport you to new worlds, they can give you the true wonder of discovery, and often the pride of accomplishing something yourself in a game, it's a wonderful moment. And in the world of entertainment, there are very few things as good as Fallout.|sound=Todd Howard.ogg}}

'''Todd Andrew Howard''' is the executive producer and game director at [[Bethesda Game Studios]]. He led the development of ''[[Fallout 3]]'', ''[[Fallout 4]]'', ''[[Fallout 76]]'' and ''[[Fallout Shelter]]'', and is also one of the executive producers of the [[Fallout (TV series)|''Fallout'' TV series]].

==Career==
Howard joined Bethesda game development in 1994. One of Howard's first assignments was to work on the first ''Elder Scrolls'' game, ''The Elder Scrolls: Arena'' by porting the game from its original floppy disk media to the new CD format. Over the years, he continued to contribute to various titles, and is currently Executive Producer of the ''Elder Scrolls''. He also serves as Executive Producer of Fallout games developed by Bethesda Game Studios. 

His major credits include being project leader and designer of ''Morrowind'', designer on ''Daggerfall'', and producer and designer of ''The Terminator: Future Shock'' and ''SkyNET''. He was also the project leader and designer of ''The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard''.

==''Fallout'' series==
===''Fallout 3''===
By July 2004, Todd was involved with ''Fallout 3'' when Bethesda announced it would be developing the title that month. In 2005, he mentioned in an interview that he intended to return ''Fallout'' to RPG prominence and do the series justice while also bringing it into the current day. He mentioned it would resemble ''[[Fallout]]'' more than ''[[Fallout 2]]''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200605221258/http://www.duckandcover.cx/content.php?id=66 Duck and Cover interview]</ref> Todd's infant son, [[Jake Howard]], voiced the [[Lone Wanderer]] as a baby.

===''Fallout 4''===
''Fallout 4'' became Bethesda's primary project in 2011. Todd revealed ''Fallout 4'' at E3 2015. Todd mentioned that its game world was the most ambitious and detailed game world the studio has made so far.

===''Fallout 76''===
According to [[Bruce Nesmith]], Todd did not initially want a multiplayer ''Fallout'' to be made, thinking it would be a bad idea. He changed his mind due to a portion of the ''Fallout'' fanbase wanting a multiplayer game, especially after ''[[Project V13]]'' was cancelled, which had caused disappointment.<ref>[https://youtu.be/JDP8QvuXn0g?t=591 Bruce Nesmith interview]</ref>

''Fallout 76'' was revealed at E3 2018 with Todd as its presenter. Todd mentioned the game's world would be four times the size of ''Fallout 4'' and have sixteen times the detail.

At E3 2019, Todd opened up about the disappointment with the launch of ''76'', mentioning him and the team were caught off-guard by the amount of issues. He mentioned much criticism was deserved and that it should have had a longer beta test. He appreciated the continuing constructive criticism from fans to help make ''76'' a better game.<ref>[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/after-bethesda-e3-2019-conference-todd-howard-open/1100-6467733/ GameSpot: After Bethesda E3 2019 Conference, Todd Howard Opens Up About Fallout 76's Struggles]</ref>

Near the end of 2021, Todd did an AskMeAnything on Reddit. He mentioned, ''"We let people down and were able to learn and be better from it. We're fortunate 3 years later to have 76 be one of our most played games, and it's thanks to the 11 million players who have made it an incredible community. It's made us much better developers in the end."''<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/user/ToddBethesda/comments/ Todd Howard Reddit AMA]</ref>

===''Fallout 5''===
In 2021, Todd mentioned Bethesda has considered ''Fallout 5'' and that the studio had a one-pager on it.<ref>[https://www.ign.com/articles/fallout-5-bethesda-todd-howard IGN: Bethesda Has an Idea for Fallout 5, But Don't Expect It For Many Years]</ref> In a June 2022 interview, Todd Howard confirmed that ''Fallout 5'' would be Bethesda's next project after ''The Elder Scrolls VI''.<ref> [https://www.ign.com/articles/starfield-new-details-todd-howard-interview Starfield: Everything New We Learned in IGN's Todd Howard Interview]</ref>

==Employment history==
{{Employment history table|start}}
{{Employment history table|row
|from    =1994
|to      =Present
|company =[[Bethesda Game Studios]]
|role    =Game Director<br />Executive Producer
}}
{{Employment history table|end}}

==Credits==
===''Fallout'' series===
{{Credits table/Lua
|year 1  =2008
|title 1 =FO3
|credit 1=Game Director<br />Executive Producer
|year 2  =2010
|title 2 =FNV
|credit 2=Special Thanks
|year 3  =2015
|title 3 =FOS
|credit 3=Executive Producer
|year 4  =2015
|title 4 =FO4
|credit 4=Game Director<br />Executive Producer
|year 5  =2018
|title 5 =FO76
|credit 5=Executive Producer
|year 6  =2024
|title 6 =FOTV
|credit 6=Executive Producer
}}

===Other work===
{{Credits table/Lua
| year 1 = 1995
| title 1 = PBA Bowling
| credit 1 = Special Thanks
| year 2 = 1996-present
| title 2 = [[w:c:theelderscrolls:The Elder Scrolls|The Elder Scrolls series]]
| credit 2 = Game Director, Executive Producer, Project Leader, Designer, Writer, Additional Writer, Quest Design, Additional Design, Special Thanks
| year 3 = 1996
| title 3 = [[wikipedia:Skynet (video game)|SkyNET]]
| credit 3 = Producer/Designer
| year 4 = 1999
| title 4 = [[wikipedia:Protector (Atari Jaguar game)|Protector]]
| credit 4 = Executive Producer
| year 5 = 2000
| title 5 = [[wikipedia:Sea Dogs (video game)|Sea Dogs]]
| credit 5 = Special Thanks
| year 6 = 2003
| title 6 = [[wikipedia:Pirates of the Caribbean (video game)|Pirates of the Caribbean]]
| credit 6 = Special Thanks
| year 7 = 2011
| title 7 = [[wikipedia:Brink (video game)|Brink]]
| credit 7 = Special Thanks
| year 8 = 2014
| title 8 = [[wikipedia:Minecraft#Console Versions|Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Pack)]]
| credit 8 = Music Credits
| year 9 = 2016
| title 9 = [[w:c:doom:Doom (2016 video game)|Doom]]
| credit 9 = Special Thanks
| year 10 = 2023
| title 10 = [[w:c:starfield:Starfield|Starfield]]
| credit 10 = Game Director
| year 11 = 
| title 11 = 
| credit 11 = 
| title 21 = 
| credit 21 = 
}}

==Notable quotes==
===''Fallout 3''===
* {{Inline quote|When we started Fallout 3 in 2004, we obviously had big ideas of what we could do with it, and I talked to a lot of outside people, from ex-developers to press folks to fans. What made it special? What are the key things you'd want out of a new one? The opinions, and I'll put this mildly... varied. A lot. But they would all end the same, like a stern father, pausing for affect – "but do not... screw it up." Gulp. Let me write that last one down a few times.}}
* {{Inline quote|I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you've probably read between 1 and 50 previews of Fallout 3 already (they're linked on this site). There's already too much info out there, in different forms and in conflicting ways, for me to cover or correct it all here. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that the information never gets out 100% correctly, and you will certainly never be quoted correctly. For the record, I never compared the violence in Fallout to Jackass, I compared it to Kill Bill... big difference. I also never said "fantasy is riding a horse and killing things," but oh well. Ultimately the game speaks for itself (certainly better than I do).}}
* {{Inline quote|Hopefully in another 10 years people will look back and say, "Nope, they didn't screw it up." Hopefully.}}

===''Fallout 4''===
* {{Inline quote|I think our fans are used to it over time, that we do like to try new things. And we'll have some successes, you know I think the shooting in Fallout 4 is really good, I think it plays really well. Obviously, the way we did some dialogue stuff, that didn't work as well. But it was I think -- I know the reasons we tried that, to make a nice interactive conversation, but [it was] less successful than other things in the game. For us, we take that feedback, and I think long term.}}

===''Fallout 76''===
* {{Inline quote|'Fallout 76' is a very different 'Fallout' game. We're very aware of that. We think a lot of people will like it, because we like it. But a lot of people probably won't. We need to balance that. This is an idea we have, and there's a lot of old 'Fallout' stuff in it, but it's a very new experience.}}
* {{Inline quote|Let's let them all collide. And it'll be messy for a little bit, but we can solve it. I'd rather do that than like, play it safe so it's boring. You can sit, though, in any design meeting and come up with a list of reasons not to do something. It's pretty easy. "Well, I'm worried about this, and I'm worried about this, and I'm worried about this." And I'm worried it's gonna be boring. Like, let's at least try it. Like, this is what we do... you know, if this is a vibe we want, let's go at it.}} (about ''76'' having online players)
* {{Inline quote|It starts with... a map of the world... that glows in the fucking dark!}} (presenting the collector's edition during E3)
* {{Inline quote|As people know, we struggled. And despite its issues, we had a lot of successes. We built our own online platform from scratch. It sold really well. We had a core audience playing the game despite its problems who were telling us, "We love this. Please fix it." We joined with our community in having that communication about what would make the game better - how do we got about it? And us here learning how to get in a cadence and continue to update a game, put our heads down, do the hard work. And today, five years later, it is one of our most played games. Now a very big success for us both in terms of what it's doing for players, but also, it made us much much better developers going through a difficult process.}}

==Behind the scenes==
* There appears to be a message saying "Todd Howard is amazing in everything his hands touch - no kidding" on the [[Periodic Table of Elements]] featured in the ''[[Fallout 4]]'' [[Fallout 4 add-ons|add-on]] ''[[Far Harbor (add-on)|Far Harbor]]'' and ''[[Fallout 76]]''.
* Phrases that Todd has said, including "it just works" (discussing settlement mechanics in ''Fallout 4'') and "sixteen times the detail" (while discussing the environmental draw distance of high altitudes of ''Fallout 76'') become Internet memes associated with Todd, ''Fallout'' and Bethesda as a whole.
* [[Chris Avellone]] spoke positively about Todd, but also mentioned people had a tendency to misinterpret him or speak on his behalf. According to Avellone, ''"Todd's a good guy and was always nice and respectful towards us. In fact, he would often say that we should check with him whenever anyone in his studio would say, 'well, Todd said...' because chances are, he didn't."''<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220224220237/https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/1496968682110545924 Chris Avellone on Twitter (archived)]: ''"Todd's a good guy and was always nice and respectful toward us. In fact, he would often say that we should check with him whenever anyone in his studio would say, 'well, Todd said...' because chances are, he didn't."''</ref>
* Todd has a hatred and possible fear of birds. The aviary, filled with dead birds, at the [[Calvert Mansion]] {{in|FO3PL}} was included to get a reaction out of him.<ref>[https://youtu.be/886N2w0n3Qg?t=2423 Fallout 4 Point Lookout Mod with Joel Burgess and Nate Purkeypile (40:23)]<br />Kenneth Vigue: ''"There's also an aviary of dead birds, what's goin' on there?"''<br />[[Nathan Purkeypile]]: ''"So, Todd Howard might hate me for saying this, but basically he hates birds and is maybe, y'know, a little bit afraid of 'em. So I was like, 'Hey, I'm gonna put an aviary full of dead birds just to see what Todd says when he sees all these dead birds.' [laughter] He didn't make me cut it."''</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Todd Howard.jpg|Todd Howard in 2012
Todd Howard 2019.png|Todd Howard in 2019
Todd Howard 2023.png|Todd Howard in 2023
FoS Todd Howard.png|Todd's character in ''[[Fallout Shelter]]''
FO4 Artbook painting 4.png|A painting of Todd on a horse found in ''Fallout 4''
Cain Fargo Howard Pagliarulo.jpg|Howard (second from right) with [[Timothy Cain]], [[Brian Fargo]] and [[Emil Pagliarulo]] at a [[Fallout (TV series)|''Fallout'' TV series]] event
</gallery>

==External links==
* [https://rawg.io/creators/todd-howard Todd Howard, rawg.io]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200605221258/http://www.duckandcover.cx/content.php?id=66 Todd Howard, Duck and Cover ''Fallout 3'' interview]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200605221341/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/qanda-fallout-3-executive-producer-todd-howard/1100-6102442/ Todd Howard, Gamespot ''Fallout 3'' interview]

==References==
{{References}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Todd}}

[[Category:Fallout 3 producers]]
[[Category:Fallout 4 producers]]
[[Category:Fallout 76 producers]]
[[Category:Fallout Shelter producers]]
[[Category:Bethesda Game Studios employees]]
[[Category:Fallout TV series producers]]

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