Lionhead and Bethesda Staffing Up for Next-Gen Projects

Feb 27, 2012 by Anthony Taormina

Bethesda and Lionhead Staffing for Next Gen

As we near the end of the life cycle for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 – although the PS3′s life is a bit more prolonged than the 360′s – it’s time for developers to start considering their future. That future, of course, resting with projects developed for Microsoft and Sony’s next gen consoles.

While we have already heard about a few popular developers toying around with next gen technology, two new developers responsible for some pretty exciting properties have thrown their hats into the ring. Those developers in question are Lionhead Studios, long running partner with Microsoft and studio responsible for the Fable series, and Bethesda Softworks, developers of both the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series.

For Lionhead, there interest in the next-gen was outed by a job posting that asked for a lead programmer to oversee the creation of a new engine. Lionhead asks that the programmer have a competent understanding of Direct X 11, Unreal, and be familiar with recent trends in graphics and engine design.

All of this suggests that Lionhead is gearing up for a next-gen project, most likely for the next Xbox, and even more likely to be the next entry in the Fable franchise. Lionhead is currently hard at work on Fable: The Journey, but, as Peter Molyneux told us, Fable 4 is still coming.

For Bethesda, their next-gen project, or at least their exploration of next-gen content, was revealed in a similar fashion: by a job posting. Like the Lionhead listing, Bethesda is looking for someone with DirectX 11 experience, widely considered to be the benchmark for the next generation, but the title of the job listing ‘Future Generation Console Programmer’ is much more direct in nature.

Obviously both studios are looking for employees that can help them continue their success well into the next console generation, and each seem to be on the same track in terms of what they are looking for, but the real test for both developers’ success will rest in what Microsoft and Sony reveal about their next-gen consoles over the next year or so.

Which developer are you more excited to see a next-gen project from? Would you like to see both Bethesda and Lionhead deliver a new IP or another entry in their established franchises?

Source: ZeniMax, Microsoft Careers