Former Bethesda VP Says Studio Under Xbox Is “Not Authentic and Not Genuine”
Former Bethesda executive Pete Hines has once again criticized Xbox and Microsoft following the company’s acquisition of Bethesda. Hines, who served as Vice President and Head of Publishing at Bethesda Softworks for 24 years, left the company in 2023, just one month before the release of Starfield.
A few months ago, he had already spoken critically about Game Pass and the studio itself, but in a new interview he went further, saying that Bethesda is not “authentic” in the way it presents itself to the public.
Bethesda Was Getting “Damaged and Abused” Under New Management, Says Pete Hines
According to Hines, he had already planned to leave after Microsoft completed the purchase of Bethesda and ZeniMax for $7.5 billion. He said he no longer had the authority he felt was necessary to properly run the studio.
Hines added that he reached a point where the company still needed him, but he no longer had the power required to manage things the right way and to protect what Bethesda had built over the years.
He said, “I was staying there because this place still needs me. I just hit a point of yes, it needs me, and I am powerless to do what I think needs to be done to run this place properly.”
According to him, his goal was to protect the people working there and preserve what he described as an “incredibly efficient” and well-managed game development and publishing company. However, he claimed things changed after the Microsoft deal and that he could no longer stop the studio from declining.
Hines said: “When I was unable to do what I thought my job should involve in continuing to have that place be, you know, if not the most efficient publisher in the game industry, it was way the fuck up there.”
He continued by saying he could see the studio “getting damaged and broken apart and frankly mistreated, abused, whatever word you want to use.” Because of this, he decided he did not want to stay and watch it happen.
He also described this period as one of the worst parts of his career, saying it was difficult to join something he truly respected only to later see how it really worked behind the scenes. Hines criticized Microsoft’s approach, claiming the company often says things that “sounds good” but quickly forgets them once meetings end.
He concluded by saying, “I still think Bethesda is just part of something that is not authentic and is not genuine. And that shouldn’t be a surprise to you.”
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