Every generation of consoles and PC gaming has its high points and its incredibly low points. Sometimes you launch a console for $600, and other times you force players to maintain an always-online connection. Bethesda director Todd Howard is one of the lucky industry leaders who often gets an early look at the hardware that will determine the capabilities of the next generation, and on this month’s IGN Unfiltered, he has some positive, but very select words about what he’s seen on the horizon from major industry figures.

“They’re doing the right things,” Howard told IGN. “The things everybody is doing, in my mind, no one is screwing up at the starting line, which some people have done before.”

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Howard added that he believes the advancements made by this upcoming generation of console hardware will help the kinds of games that Bethesda builds (typically expansive RPGs) "tremendously," specifically referencing Sony's demonstrations of rapidly decreased load times on the next PlayStation console. Howard also said he looks forward to alternate business models for game developers, publishers, and platforms continuing to grow."Gaming is finally reaching the point that linear entertainment is," Howard said. "Movies, television, all that, where you're going to have games that are big tentpoles that people can buy for $60. That's kind of like going to the theater. You're going to have games you can play on a subscription service, you're going to have ones you can download on your phone, you're going to have ones you can play and they're ad-supported. I think that's really healthy for the industry; obviously the players who want to consume it, but [also] the developers who say 'I just want to make an adventure game for this budget.' There's an audience for that. My worry before was hey, will all of that go away?"You can hear more on that in the clip at the top of the page, or you can watch or listen to the entire episode of Unfiltered tomorrow, where host Ryan McCaffrey chats with Howard about his early history working with Bethesda and Elder Scrolls, the troubling trend of crunch in the games industry, and how the infamous horse armor from The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion came to be.Every month, IGN Unfiltered hosts some of gaming industry’s biggest names to explore what made them the creative icons they are today. Recent guests include Ubisoft co-founder Yves Guillemot , former Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack , Insomniac president Ted Price , and many more. Check out every episode here on IGN.

Joseph Knoop is a writer and web producer for IGN, He's always-online at @JosephKnoop