Matt Firor's connection to Zenimax and Elder Scrolls is well-documented, but the veteran developer also has a fascinating history with the Fallout series that reaches back to the time before Zenimax acquired the property.
IGN's Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Matt Firor to discuss Elder Scrolls Online in the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, as well as Zenimax Online Studios' second project, Mythic’s shared history with Blizzard, and so much more.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/06/15/bringing-the-elder-scrolls-online-eso-boss-on-the-rpgs-past-present-and-future-ign-unfiltered-60"]Firor: "Another funny story that I don't know that I've ever told publicly is that, in the year [I took a break after the Mythic buyout]... I'm obsessed with Fallout. Even today. It is my favorite... well, second favorite, I guess, to Elder Scrolls... but I love Fallout. I still play Fallout 1 probably every other year, at least once, all the way through. In the year in between, I actually tried to get the rights to Fallout, to make a Fallout MMO."
"I was talking to the license holders and they were like, 'Great!' and I had lined up a publisher, which was Brash Entertainment, which were around for a hot minute, back then. And then, suddenly, they stopped taking my calls and then, like three weeks later, it was like, 'Bethesda Acquires Fallout!' and I was like 'Aww, man...' So they beat me to it. Of course it makes perfect sense that I go join them."
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="slug=fallout-76-wastelanders-screenshots&captions=true"]Although Firor knew the job he was being hired for was creating Elder Scrolls Online, he did give it one last try after joining Bethesda. "I did make some feeble attempts to change it to Fallout, but they were having none of it. And it was the right decision. Fantasy, at the time... and as has been proven... was the right way to go."
As for how he ended up joining Zenimax, Firor said, "What happened was, EA bought Mythic. I had been there for a long time. I had moved away because I had met my... now 'wife,' and she lives in Baltimore, so it was a long commute. So I decided, at the buyout, to just kind of put a pin in it there."
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/04/27/fallout-76-locked-loaded-update-launch-trailer"]"I left and, essentially, retired for a year, and then Bethesda was trying to get this MMO Elder Scrolls game off the ground and they had been talking to people around the industry. And Todd Howard said, 'Why don't you just talk to Matt? He's right up the street.' So they gave me a call and it was the right thing to do. It was the right moment, the right time in the industry, and I think it was the right property to base a giant game on."
For more interviews with the best, brightest, most fascinating minds in the games industry, check out be sure to check out every episode of IGN Unfiltered, which includes talks with IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak, Master Chief co-creator Marcus Lehto, Valve's Robin Walker & Chris Remo, Respawn's Stig Asmussen, and many more.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]Brian Barnett writes reviews, wiki guides, deals posts, features, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian's antics on Twitter @Ribnax.
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