'I think geniuses come up with terrible ideas, too': Former senior artist at Bethesda likens Todd Howard's struggles with complete creative control to George Lucas

pcgamer.com:

I think, with the appropriate amount of hindsight, we can all agree that Starfield didn't take off as the multi-year industry titan that Bethesda was hoping it would be. While I, and plenty of other players, got a reasonable amount of enjoyment out of it, it wasn't quite in line with the studio's other heavy-hitters. The post-launch support hasn't been (inter)stellar either, and its first DLC, according to our Shattered Space review, hasn't done enough to bring it back to life.

There are about a dozen reasons you can cite as to why this was the case, but one that appears to be a reoccurring theme between former developers is the studio—or, rather, the studio's head honcho, Todd Howard—suffering from success. So sayeth Dennis Mejillones, a character artist who worked at Bethesda for over 12 years, including work on Starfield itself, during an interview with Kiwi Talkz.

While the comparison in the headline might not seem flattering at first blush, In the interest of fairness I want to highlight that Meijilones is, broadly speaking, very positive on his relationship with Howard: «I love Todd, I do. He's one of the greatest influences on my life … This man has been a mentor, a guide, he's been patient with me. So a lot of what I am, he's helped shape that.

»Is he perfect? No, does he call all the shots perfectly? No." Meijilones recounts a couple of times where he disagreed with Howard on key issues, and while he says he felt comfortable bringing them up if he «felt strongly», he does admit that «a lot of people were afraid to say no to Todd, and I think that hurt him.»

Here's where the George Lucas comparison comes in. «It's like George Lucas—George Lucas, I think, is a genius. I think geniuses come up with terrible ideas, too, they're not gonna be hits. But if you don't have somebody to help you filter through these things, and give you an honest assessment, because they're afraid to tell you what they really think, it actually does hurt you.»

For context, one