Pete Hines is a name that we haven’t heard in a while, really ever since the former Bethesda head of publishing retired back in 2023 after an astounding 24-year stint at the studio. Now he’s broken the quiet of his retirement in an interview in which he talks about the industry at large and Bethesda’s history in specific.

In the interview, Hines unloaded on the unfair model of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass that disrupt development: “You need to properly acknowledge, compensate, and recognize what it takes to create that content and not just make a game, but make a product. That tension is hurting a lot of people, including the content creators themselves, because they’re fitting into an ecosystem that is not properly valuing and rewarding what they’re making.”

And for those who remember the infamous canvas bag that was supposed to come with the Fallout 76 Power Armor Edition but ended up being a flimsy nylon product, Hines said that the mistake haunted him the most.

“There was literally a canvas shortage, and some folks decided we’re going to do this instead,” he said. “My biggest failing there was not pushing immediately for making and sending one to everybody that wants one. Because I was still annoyed that the damn thing was in there in the first place, and nobody had told me and that this canvas shortage happened. It’s probably the dumbest thing I ever did at Bethesda.”