Kurt Kuhlmann, a senior designer at Bethesda Game Studios, departed the company in 2023 after more than two decades, driven by frustrations with the studio's evolving development processes amid its growth under Microsoft. In a recent interview, he highlighted communication breakdowns and a shift away from hands-on game design. He also discussed unfulfilled expectations for leading The Elder Scrolls 6.
Kurt Kuhlmann joined Bethesda as a junior designer in the late 1990s and returned as a senior designer in 2003, contributing to every major Elder Scrolls game except the first, Arena. He played a key role in building the series' setting and lore.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Kuhlmann explained his decision to leave after two stints totaling over 20 years. “It was almost certainly time for a change,” he said. “There were some things that had been going on for a long time that I’d not been super happy with.”
The core issues stemmed from Bethesda's expansion from a small team to hundreds across four studios managed by Microsoft. This growth introduced layers of bureaucracy, replacing quick in-person discussions with filtered communications. Kuhlmann described the environment as prone to “communication breakdowns,” particularly on Starfield, where teams were often unclear on objectives.
Senior roles had become more managerial, limiting hands-on content creation. “The expectation was your job can’t be also making content if you’re actually managing that scope of the project,” Kuhlmann noted. “I didn’t want to work that way, because I like making games and being hands-on. It had gotten to a scale beyond where I was really enjoying working in that environment.”
Compounding this, executive producer Todd Howard retracted an earlier promise to appoint Kuhlmann as lead designer on The Elder Scrolls 6. Kuhlmann viewed this as a wise shift given the development challenges but shared his vision for the game: a narrative where the antagonists prevail, akin to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, setting up The Elder Scrolls 7. However, he acknowledged the protracted AAA release cycles—potentially 10 to 15 years—would make such a cliffhanger unfeasible. “That’s not a good way to end a game and say, yeah, we’ll see you in 10, 15 years,” he said.