Jeff Gardiner, Fallout 76 project lead, who also worked on The Elder Scrolls franchise, has left Bethesda after almost 16 years at the company. The ongoing support for the online RPG-shooter will now continue without him.
Gardiner announced his retirement from Bethesda Game Studios on Twitter. The 19-year veteran of the video games industry wrote that his time at BGS had “come to an end” and it has been “an amazing ride.” The developer noted that he will miss his co-workers from the studio and thanked all the fans for their support throughout the years.
Gardiner didn’t specify the reasons for his departure, only noting that it was 100 percent his choice. According to the developer, he wants to take some time off first, so he has no immediate plans for new gaming endeavors.
The developer joined the studio in 2005 and worked on The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 4, as well as major expansions for the aforementioned titles. Gardiner’s last project was Fallout 76, which he oversaw in all aspects.
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He also wrote fans should “stay tuned,” presumably hinting at even more new content coming to Fallout 76 soon. In the meantime, Bethesda just announced the addition of custom servers called Fallout Worlds, launching this September for paid subscribers.
Despite a slow trek to recovery after such a rocky launch, things have not always gone smoothly with Fallout 76’s recent support. Earlier this month, the game’s 1.55 update brought a myriad of problems and bugs, frequent disconnections, and PlayStation console crashes. Bethesda has already implemented several hotfixes since then to get things back up to speed.
Bethesda also just hired writer Stephanie Zachariadis, who worked on the fan project Fallout London. Now, Zachariadis will continue her work as an associate quest designer at Bethesda Game Studios. The new hire may even be connected to a recent rumor that the company might be creating a new studio to remake some of its older games.
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