About Todd Howard, W&M Class of 1993

Todd Howard is a designer, director, and producer at Bethesda Game Studios. He joined Bethesda in 1994 and has created some of the industry?s most successful games by pioneering open world gameplay. He is the 22nd member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences? Hall of Fame and the 16th recipient of the Game Developers Conference Lifetime Achievement Award. GamePro magazine named him to the Top 20 Most Influential People in Gaming over the Last 20 Years. He is one of IGN?s Top Game Creators of All Time. He was named Best Game Director by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences in 2012 and 2016. In 2014 he received the Lara of Honor, Germany?s lifetime achievement award for gaming. Mr. Howard is one of the only developers to create four Game of the Year winners in a row with Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim, and Fallout 4.

He was an early pioneer of open 3D worlds, creating the PC's first 3D shooter with mouselook in 1995 with The Terminator: Future Shock, and pushing world creation and player modding in 2002's breakthrough The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

Todd?s latest game, Fallout 4, was released in 2015 and once again became a rare combination of critical and commercial success. Fallout 4 was named to multiple Game of the Year lists including the 2016 DICE Awards and the BAFTAs. It was E3?s Best of Show for 2015 and broke sales records worldwide. He also directed Fallout Shelter, the studio?s first mobile game, which quickly became the #1 App for both Apple and Google, and also won Mobile Game of the Year.

Prior to that, he was Game Director of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, one of the most critically acclaimed and best selling games of all time. Released in 2011, Skyrim won over 250 Game of the Year awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, Game Developers Choice Awards, VGAs, USA Today, X-Play, and more. Bethesda Game Studios was also named Studio of the Year at the 2011 VGAs. Many outlets later named Skyrim ?The Game of the Generation? and PC Gamer ranked Skyrim as the #1 Game of all Time.

He was Game Director and Executive Producer of Fallout 3, the 2008 winner of E3?s Best of Show, and Game of the Year from the Game Developers Choice Awards, The Associated Press, Yahoo, IGN, PC Gamer, and more. Prior to Fallout 3, he led the creation of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the 2006 Game of the Year winner from the VGAs, G4, Computer Gaming World, and AIAS among many others.

His other major credits include Project Leader and Designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002), Producer and Designer of The Terminator: Future Shock (1995) and SkyNET (1996), and Project Leader and Designer of The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (1998).