The Morrowind Era: Todd Howard Interview Retrospective
Note: The original interview with Todd Howard of Bethesda, conducted by Paul “RPGDude” Tipton in 2002 while Tribunal was still on the way, is preserved on the Internet Archive. The quotes below come from it.
In 2002, Bethesda was not yet the studio behind Skyrim and Fallout 3. It had just released The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on PC and, a month later, on Xbox, and it was finishing its first expansion, Tribunal. Todd Howard, Morrowind’s project leader, answered a short set of questions at that moment. His answers are brief, but they say a lot about the games Bethesda went on to make.
Morrowind in 2002
Morrowind came out on PC on May 1, 2002 in North America, and on Xbox on June 7, 2002. It was an open-world RPG on a console at a time when console RPGs were mostly Japanese and mostly linear, and it worked. Morrowind was the best selling RPG on Xbox in 2002, and it was still in the Xbox top 10 from May to October 2003, a year after launch. Halo was the only other game to manage that.
| Date | Release |
|---|---|
| May 1, 2002 | Morrowind on PC (North America) |
| June 7, 2002 | Morrowind on Xbox (North America) |
| November 2002 | Tribunal expansion on PC |
| June 7, 2003 | Bloodmoon expansion on PC |
| October 31, 2003 | Game of the Year Edition, with both expansions, on PC and Xbox |
By August 2005, Morrowind had sold more than 4 million copies. The Xbox version alone sold nearly one million by February 2006, according to Microsoft’s Peter Moore.
What Todd Howard Said
On Games and the Industry
Asked about the industry, Howard said he loved games “more than any other entertainment form”, but that “the average person still thinks of games as things like ‘chess’ or ‘risk’ or a child’s thing. It’s really the same fate as comic books.” He thought easy-to-play RPGs like Diablo could help bridge that gap. His advice to readers who wanted to work in games was blunt: “just be willing to start at the bottom and be willing to do anything. There’s a lot of grunt work that goes into making a game.”
On the Xbox Version
His favourite part of Morrowind on Xbox was the interface: “It’s much faster and simpler than the PC version, which is basically like Windows.” The Xbox launch surprised him. “My big reaction, on Xbox, was how many people bought it. I didn’t realize how starving they were for something new and in general, a big RPG.” Coming out at number one on Xbox, he said, “was pretty amazing”, because he had not been sure how a console audience would respond.
On Japanese RPGs
The most quoted line from the interview is his view on Japanese RPGs: “I’m not a big fan of Japanese style RPGs, I find them way too preachy and longwinded. I prefer games where I can do what I want, like Ultimas and such. Fortunately there are lots of people like that too.” It is a short answer, but “games where I can do what I want” is a fair summary of every Bethesda game since.
On Fan Feedback and Tribunal
On fan feedback, he admitted Bethesda got “more than we can read actually”, and said the team tried to add as much as possible “as long as it doesn’t break any rules we have or unbalance the game.” For Tribunal, the interface work went into the areas players had complained about, the map and the journal.
He said the biggest change players would feel was the journal, which now sorted active and completed quests and was much easier to use. The expansion itself “feels tighter. It’s a smaller area, and there’s less ‘downtime’ from walking around.” The goal was to keep Morrowind fresh for people who already owned it and bring in new players.
He also explained why Tribunal was different from most expansions of the time: “it’s an ‘add-in’ as opposed to an ‘add-on’. Any character can play it at anytime.”
What Happened Next
Tribunal and Bloodmoon
Tribunal came out on PC in November 2002, after a five-month development cycle that started in June. It takes place in Mournhold, Morrowind’s capital, which you reach by teleport. Its new journal let players sort quests by name and separate active quests from completed ones, and players could add notes to the map. It scored 80 on Metacritic.
Bethesda first said Tribunal would not come to Xbox. Instead, both Tribunal and Bloodmoon, which added the island of Solstheim in June 2003, reached Xbox in the Game of the Year Edition on October 31, 2003.
Todd Howard’s Career
Howard became Bethesda’s best known developer. He was executive producer on Oblivion (2006), game director and executive producer on Fallout 3 (2008), creative director on Skyrim (2011), and game director on Fallout 4 (2015) and Starfield (2023). Today he is director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, and he is listed as game director of The Elder Scrolls VI, which has no release date yet.
He has also looked back on what changed after Morrowind. In 2011 he said of Oblivion: “we sacrificed some of what made Morrowind special: the wonder of discovery.”
Reading the Interview Today
The interview is only seven questions long, but three of Howard’s answers still describe Bethesda well.
Do what you want. His preference for “games where I can do what I want” is the core of Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim and Starfield.
Interfaces matter. His favourite part of the Xbox version was not a quest or a location but the menus. Making a deep PC RPG work on a controller became something Bethesda kept working on for every game after.
Content for any character. Calling Tribunal an “add-in” that any character can play at any time is close to how many modern expansions and DLC work.
Playing Morrowind Today
Morrowind is easy to play now. The Game of the Year Edition, with both expansions, is sold on Steam and GOG. If you only know Bethesda from Skyrim, it is worth trying for the strange world and the sense of discovery Howard himself said was lost later.
Did you play Morrowind on Xbox in 2002? Share your memories in the comments, or through our contact page.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Morrowind come out on Xbox?
Morrowind came out on Xbox in North America on June 7, 2002, about a month after the PC version, and in Europe on November 22, 2002.
Was Tribunal released on Xbox?
Not on its own. Tribunal launched on PC in November 2002 and reached Xbox in the Morrowind Game of the Year Edition on October 31, 2003, together with Bloodmoon.
What did Todd Howard say about Japanese RPGs?
He said he was not a big fan of Japanese style RPGs and found them too preachy and longwinded, and that he preferred games where he could do what he wanted, like the Ultima series.
What was Todd Howard’s role on Morrowind?
He was the project leader and a designer on Morrowind, a role he took on in 2000. He later led Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Starfield.
How many copies did Morrowind sell?
Morrowind sold more than 4 million copies by August 2005, across PC and Xbox.
Related Guides
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- Restricted Area: Where Are They Now?: the cyberpunk action RPG from Hamburg.
- Eon of Tears: Where Are They Now?: the biblical RPG that was never released.
- Dragon Empires: Where Are They Now?: Codemasters’ cancelled clan warfare MMO.
- Complete Manarion Guide: a modern browser RPG, explained from the start.
- Battling vs Gathering in Manarion: choose your path.
Last updated: October 2026.
