Bethesda Looks to Be Developing a Freemium AAA Game

Elder Scrolls and Fallout factory Bethesda Game Studios appears to be moving away from its tried and true retail blockbuster formula with one of its next games. It appears the studio is sticking with AAA scale but giving the free-to-play market a try.

A job posting (as first spotted by NeoGAF user Nirolak) reveals that the studio’s Montreal office “is looking for a Manager in Game Performance…that exceeds the standards and pushes the limits of freemium game development,” Additionally, Bethesda is asking that candidates have at least five years of experience with AAA products.

Bethesda is particularly interested in finding someone who can lead the strategy for selling players additional content to support the existence of the core free-to-play experience. According to the listing, the Manager in Game Performance “will work with the gaming team to provide guidelines, evolve, and implement monetization strategies.” Bethesda wants someone who can ensure its first AAA freemium release can bring in revenue without compromising players’ gameplay experiences.

Bethesda Game Studios Executive Producer Todd Howard has previously said that the studio is working on three new games, one mobile and two console/PC titles along the traditional lines of what the studio has previously created. Howard has also said that the pair of traditional games are “bigger than anything we’ve ever done. They’re a bit different, but definitely in the wheelhouse that people are used to from us.”

It seems unlikely that this AAA freemium game is the mobile title, as job listings for that game tend to reference mobile game development and don’t use the term AAA. Additionally, a free-to-play AAA game would seem to match Howard’s description of something that’s at once different and similar to what gamers have come to expect from the studio. Of course, this could also be another game entirely, and it’s unlikely anyone outside Bethesda will know for certain until the studio wants them to.

But with Bethesda’s E3 2017 media briefing scheduled for this Sunday, June 11, it’s possible that the world will find out sooner rather than later.

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