Bethesda’s Pete Hines Discusses Creativity In The Gaming Industry; Horizon Zero Dawn Proves What Devs Are Capable Of

2017 was a fascinating year for the gaming industry, and it is still going. We got to see a couple of magnificent new IPs during the year, with Horizon Zero Dawn probably standing out compared to the rest.

Bethesda’s Pete Hines was recently featured in an interview with GamesRadar where he discusses the creative freedom available to developers and how studios should have the freedom to “stretch their legs creatively, or try a new idea, or do something different and not just fall into the same pattern.” Hines mentioned Horizon Zero Dawn as a prime example to prove his point.

[The development teams] aren’t just a vending machine where you press for the soda and they just go back and forth – they want to be able to stretch their legs creatively, or try a new idea, or do something different and not just fall into the same pattern.

I think you see a lot of developers do that, and quite honestly, if we didn’t have folks break from it then you don’t get Horizon Zero Dawn. Like, how unbelievable is that game? And if [Guerrilla] just stayed on that path for what they were known for, you’d never get that game. Why would you ever think that [the creators of Killzone] would do crazy post-retro; futuristic but retro dinosaur. It might be my favorite game this year, and if they didn’t break from what they had been doing and try something different, you’d never get that. I think that’s true of a lot of studios, right? You don’t get The Last of Us if [Naughty Dog] just kept churning out Uncharted games.

What do you think of Hines’ statement?