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Semester Project: Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda Softworks is a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. Bethesda Softworks has various

studios, including Bethesda Game Studios, ZeniMax Online Studios, id Software, Arkane

Studios, Tango Gameworks, and MachineGames (Bethesda Softworks, 2019), and fits into the

Branded model of organizations, with each company as seemingly separate entities all under one

mother company (Cornelissen, 2017). I chose to research and follow Bethesda Softworks

because I very much enjoy the games produced by its studios. They are well-crafted, with

immersive stories and fun gameplay challenges. I also chose this company for my semester

project because I would love to work for it or a company like it one day, preferably as a story

writer or on the marketing team.

The main spokespeople for Bethesda are Todd Howard, who is the Executive Producer

for Bethesda Game Studios, and Pete Hines, the SVP of Global Marketing/Communications.

Todd maintains a sparse Facebook presence, but not active personal Twitter account that I could

find. He speaks at game releases and yearly conventions like E3 on behalf of Bethesda Game

Studios. Although he is the spokesperson for only one studio, I followed him because it is the

games produced by his studio that I enjoy the most. Todd leads the development teams for two of

my favorite game franchises: ​Fallout​ and ​The Elder Scrolls​ (Todd Howard, 2019). He has three

rules for developing games that guide his process, outlined in 2009 gathering of game company

executives:

1. "You can have the greatest design document ever made, and you're going to change 90

percent of it as soon as you play the game" (Todd Howard, 2019, para. 8).
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2. "Doing something really well takes time, more time than you think it will. Simple

systems acting together create complexity that players can appreciate" (Todd Howard,

2019, para. 8).

3. "Don't define your game by a list of bullet points... define it by the experience you want

people to have" (Todd Howard, 2019, para. 8).

These quotes fit the games Todd has directed and produced throughout his tenure at Bethesda.

The systems in the games are simple, but create an engaging experience.

Pete Hines has a personal Twitter profile where he also frequently posts about the

company’s games. He has 124K followers and, from what I have seen, either directly or

indirectly runs most of the social media accounts for Bethesda. The posts on these official

accounts usually focus on giving updates to games, asking fans to post what they like about the

games, and generally marketing game titles to the general public. There is the occasional post to

handle an issue players are experiencing, like downtime in an online game or posts addressing

information leaks.

The key stakeholders for the studio includes the players/customers, employees, the

media, suppliers and partners, distributors, and government personnel. The players often use

forums, both official Bethesda ones and third-party websites, to discuss games, updates, patches,

and upcoming releases. Players also use Facebook and Twitter to interact with the company,

providing feedback or giving suggestions and ideas. Bethesda does not usually reply to the social

media posts, but it does reply to some comments depending on the content of the post and the

question. As for internal employee communications, there was not much information available.
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There were public social media posts recognizing the efforts of some employees, like a post

celebrating the women of Bethesda.

Gamers are fickle customers. One moment they will be deriding a game for “poor”

graphics, then the next moment be praising it for its immersive story. This type of thing can be

seen on Bethesda’s Facebook posts, where comments vary widely from absolute praise to

bordering on hate speech. The company posts mostly consist of promotional content, but they

also have posts showing appreciation to partners and players. The same branding is used across

platforms, currently showing the company logo: the outline of a cog inside a circle.

An effective communication strategy Bethesda Studios the other studios owned by

Bethesda Softworks is interactive beta testing. The company provides early access to some titles

and allows players to try to break the game. The players provide feedback about the in-game

systems, any game-affecting glitches, or anything else that may warrant attention. In this way,

some players get early access to the content in exchange for giving feedback to Bethesda. This

also happens with live online games like Fallout 76, where a Player Test Server is open for

people to test upcoming content before it is officially released to the normal, live servers. These

strategies give Bethesda an idea of what players are looking for or expecting in its game titles

while also demonstrating trust in the players who test. This greatly helps improve the games

before they are released, even if they then have to go through a series of updates after release to

tweak more items of concern. .

Another main communication strategy used by the company is press releases to those

who cover gaming in traditional and online media. Online gaming news sources like Kotaku and

Crunchbase publish articles about Bethesda’s latest announcements and efforts. Similarly,
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Bethesda uses the biggest annual gaming expo in America, E3, to showcase its latest and

upcoming games. This leaves people talking for months about what the company is planning,

building hype around titles as information is slowly released. Sometimes there are leaks,

however, and Bethesda is strategic in coming forward to either confirm or deny the information

that was leaked. As an example, the company was planning to release a new player class in The

Elder Scrolls Online, but had not confirmed what that class was. It was leaked in early January

that it would be a “Necromancer” class (Murnane, 2019), which was confirmed mere hours after

on the company’s Twitter account. Bethesda knew that denying it would not serve the company,

and that they may as well let their players know so hype could start building. They nipped the

issue in the bud to prevent it from turning into something worse.

The content of Bethesda’s posts attempts to be engaging. A recent post on Twitter

celebrated National Pet Day and got 532 comments of people posting photos of their pets. It is a

way of building rapport with followers by not always posting promotional material and instead

giving followers a way to relate more to the company.

Considering all of the above examples and information, it seems that Pete’s and Todd’s

roles require paying attention to a number of channels and how customers/players are engaging

with the company and brand. Pete’s role is more online, while Todd’s role is more with live

interactions, including interviews by traditional media and stage announcements at conferences.

Having someone who is a C-level employee like Pete be behind company communications is a

smart move, like I found out in the interview I had with Liz Knight, Outreach Ambassador for

Vivint Internet. She was in constant communication with Paul Haynie, the Chief Revenue
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Officer at the company. Pete, as the SVP of Global Marketing/Communication, is perfectly

poised to be an authoritative source for any issue or crisis that could face the company.

Overall, Bethesda Softworks and its subsidiary studios do a good job. They don’t respond

to trolls but do take feedback seriously. They keep their customers updated and engaged with the

process of creation, providing them with experiences they actually want instead of assuming.

The company could maybe start releasing full-finished products instead of ones that needs a

bunch of updates to be playable, but then they would have customers saying they don’t like it

anyway. At least the model they have now allows Bethesda to respond to input from consumers

before releasing the full game. And, the posts stay aligned with company values of pushing the

limits of gaming technology, responding to the desires and feedback of customers, and providing

the best experience possible.

Taking this course has helped me understand how the opportunities and roles in this field

vary widely. It has reinforced that all communications must have a strategy behind them, and

they must align with key messages. The course expanded my understanding of stakeholders and

how communication efforts can influence perceptions and encourage action. It may have been a

lot of reading, but the information I gleaned from the textbook will be helpful in whatever career

I choose.
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Sources:

Bethesda Softworks. (2019, April 27). Retrieved April 29, 2019, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_Softworks

Cornelissen, J. (2017). ​Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice​. London, GB:

SAGE Publications.

Murnane, K. (2019, January 07). A datamine leak allegedly reveals what the 'Elder Scrolls

Online' has in store for 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2019, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2019/01/07/a-datamine-leak-allegedly-revea

ls-what-the-elder-scrolls-online-has-in-store-for-2019/#840488469c39

Todd Howard. (2019, April 01). Retrieved April 29, 2019, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Howard