Bethesda’s games truly play like nothing else on the market, presenting players with a world so interactive that it borders on being a full sandbox- and that comes down to their engine, that they have used for every single one of their games since The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
Unfortunately, this same engine has also led to a lot of problems with Bethesda’s games, such as their general bugginess, as well as an identifiable lack of evolution in some key areas. Bethesda have claimed to have ‘updated’ their engine before the launch of a lot of their major games – Oblivion, Skyrim, and Fallout 4 – they have ultimately just added nuts and bolts to the same core engine, leading to the same problems remaining across all their games, with the addition of new ones.
However, Bethesda may be looking at upgrading their engine for the speculated The Elder Scrolls 6 in earnest- at least, if this new job listing that they made is any indication. The new job listing is for their Montreal studio, and Bethesda are looking for an Engine Programmer. Among the responsibilities listed are “[working] closely with artists, lead engine programmers, designers and producers to implement and optimize game features,” “[planning] and [designing] code in collaboration with team members,” [providing] technical expertise to develop cutting-edge technologies to include: architecture, design, prototype, implement, test, debug, document, profile, maintain, and support,” and finally, of course, “[maintaining] existing systems,” indicating that the engine programmer will have to learn to work with the existing engine and work flow, too.
Could this be indicative of Bethesda looking to upgrade and overhaul their engine, though? It’s too early to get excited, particularly given just how many times we have all gone through this same song and dace routine before- however, a job listing like this indicates that a new engine, or an upgraded one, is on Bethesda’s mind, at any rate- and that can only be a good thing.