Bethesda’s Todd Howard named two of the most influential games of all time — and it’s not Skyrim

If you were asked about the most influential game in history, what would you say? Bethesda CEO Todd Howard was quick to give his answer.

Howard was asked about this during the Q&A session at the BAFTA Games Awards. There, he did not just name the game, but gave options. And no, the list does not include Starfield, Fallout, or different versions of Skyrim. According to the Bethesda CEO, Super Mario Bros. and Doom changed the gaming industry the most in their time.

But that’s not all. The legend of gamemaking decided to divide his TOP not only into influential games within the industry, but also «the most important» of all time. Pac-Man and Tetris became such games for him. Why these games? If you are surprised by the choice, his answer is as follows: these titles have become the door to the world of video games for millions of people.

Four games that shaped the industry

Super Mario Bros. was released in 1985 on the NES and literally restarted the video game market after the 1983 crisisThe main reasons for the crisis were the oversaturation of the market with consoles and low-quality games, as well as the decline in interest in consoles in favor of PCs. Revenues from home video games dropped by almost 97%, leading to the bankruptcy of many companies. It was a project that set the standard for platformers that still works today.

Doom, released in 1993 on MS-DOS, laid the foundations of FPS — not just mechanics, but also a whole culture of modding, multiplayer, and hardcore action. Moreover, this game was the first to give rise to famous ideas: «Will Doom run on this?». Fans have already reached the point of absurdity on what the game ran on, there were cases of intimate devices, tractor, clock, Windows Notepad… Someone even guessed to start it with the help of intestinal bacteria.

Tetris, which was released in 1984, is still one of the best-selling games in the world, surpassing 520 million copies on more than 50 platforms. And Pac-Man, which appeared in 1980, has become a pop culture icon, creating the arcade maze genre.

Returning to Bethesda, it is worth mentioning that the studio is busy with development of The Elder Scrolls 6 (but little is known about it, except for the possibility of becoming an NPC). Howard also actively worked on the game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle where he was an executive producer.

As for the BAFTA Games Awards, the ceremony will take place on April 8. This time, the absolute Senua’s Saga became the leader in the number of nominations: Hellblade 2. Developers will have to «compete with» in 11 nominations at once.

Source: Game Spot