Bruce Nesmith, who worked at Bethesda for 17 years, recently talked about why making a new version of the old game Elder Scrolls Morrowind could be a problem. He believes the company might not have the original computer code for the game anymore.
In a chat with PressboxUK, Nesmith discussed his time at the company and the different games he helped make. He left Bethesda in 2021 while they were still working on the game Starfield. When asked why Bethesda might not want to remake the old but well-loved game, he gave a straightforward answer.
Nesmith explained, “The main issue with trying to remake Morrowind is that I bet they don’t have the first computer code for it. The game is so old. I’m not sure if the original code still exists. Even if it does, would they be able to make it work today? When they looked at making a new version of Oblivion, they still had its code. They could still make it work. So, putting that code into a newer game system was possible.”
He also worried that Morrowind might not be fun for today’s players because it’s so old. “Another thing I’d say is, go play Morrowind again and then tell me if that’s the game you really want to play. We all remember these games fondly as big moments in our gaming past, and we truly love them. But if you go back and play a game that’s 20 years old, you might not like it as much.”
“Even with the new version of Oblivion, some people had parts they didn’t like, but they overlooked it because they were enjoying remembering the good old days. I worked on Oblivion, and I’m even responsible for some of those parts people didn’t like! The older a game is, the more this problem will come up. In my opinion, playing Morrowind today just wouldn’t hold up.”
Instead, Nesmith thinks it would be better to spend time creating something new that takes place in the Morrowind world. He told Pressbox, “Now, if you were to completely remake Morrowind using the Skyrim game system, building it all from scratch, that’s a whole different story. But that’s a huge project. That would take a full four years to develop. Why not just go and make something brand new?”
“Let’s go back to the lands of Morrowind and tell a new story. You can still have the giant crab palace and all those cool things, but make it fresh and avoid all the parts that wouldn’t be fun anymore.”
The updated version of Oblivion, which came out last April, was very popular. It sold over four million copies in just five days. Many players also made their own changes to the game, adding funny new things and fixing some of its rough spots. Bethesda even asked players for their ideas to make the game better, with changes to how hard the game was being a popular suggestion.
Last year, Jim Trinca from Eurogamer argued for a Morrowind remake. He said that Morrowind is a special game with a truly unique fantasy world, but it’s hard to enjoy now because the technology and how you play it have gotten very old. He loves it, flaws and all, just like he loves Oblivion, flaws and all. But he finds Oblivion much easier to suggest to others because Oblivion is great because of its oddities, while Morrowind is great despite them.
