Former Bethesda PR lead was not happy with Microsoft merger

It came as quite the surprise when Pete Hines left Bethesda. The company's long-time PR lead departed once Starfield hit the market, and it sounds like the merger with Microsoft played a major factor.

In a recent interview with Firezide Chat (via VGC), Hines said that it “it was really hard to walk away” and alluded to his retirement coming sooner than planned: “I think I’ve done everything I can do. This is not when I wanted it to end or how I wanted it to end, but that’s not really up to me.”

It sounds like Hines wasn't a fan of his new Microsoft colleagues, saying things like:

“That was the worst part. To join a place that I genuinely was a fan of and people there I genuinely held in high regard and esteem, and then to get there and see how it actually worked. To talk is something, right? But I’m very much about what is the follow up to that? Do you mean what you say?”

Ultimately, Hines thinks that Bethesda is now part of something “not authentic and not genuine”.

Since joining Microsoft, the wider Bethesda Publishing line-up of studios have suffered pretty hard with layoffs and several studio closures. Microsoft shook up the Xbox leadership team earlier this year and is now putting in place plans for its next-generation console.

KitGuru Says: Xbox has new leadership now, so we will have to wait and see if things with its studios and game sales can turn around. 

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