Emil Pagliarulo
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Emil Pagliarulo is an American video game designer who works at
Bethesda Game Studios Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. It is best known for its action role-playing franchises, including ''The Elder Scrolls'', '' Fallout'', and '' Starfield''. B ...
.


Career

Pagliarulo started his career writing for the website ''Adrenaline Vault''. He has been working for
Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a Division (business), division of Media Technology Limited. In 1999, it became a subsidiary of Z ...
since 2002. He previously worked for
Looking Glass Studios Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Produ ...
and Ion Storm Austin. His first works at Bethesda include a credit for writing and quest design for The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon, and quest design for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in which he wrote the Dark Brotherhood quest line. He was then promoted to lead designer and lead writer for ''
Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...
'', for which he received the Game of the Year award and the Best Writing award at the 2008
Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding video game developer, game developers and video game, games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by ...
. He was credited as the senior designer and writer of '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'' and ''
Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for Microsoft Windo ...
''. In 2024, Pagliarulo claimed via
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
that the protagonist of
Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for Microsoft Windo ...
, Nate, was the same character seen during the opening sequence from the original
Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...
, though later recanted the claim after fans observed that this would make the character a
war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
: specifying that not everything he says on Twitter is "automatically canon".


Fallout 76

Pagliarulo worked on ''
Fallout 76 ''Fallout 76'' is a 2018 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is an installment in the ''Fallout'' series and a prequel to previous entries. Initially set in the year 2102, players ...
'' as design director. In 2022 it was uncovered by ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'' that the development of ''Fallout 76'' suffered massive mismanagement from top level executives, with one anonymous and unverified developer claiming that “During development, our design director Emil agliarulodidn’t seem to want to be involved with the product at all. He didn’t want to have any contact with it…or read anything that we put in front of him.” Pagliarulo refused to comment to ''Kotaku'' when asked to give his side of the story. Despite his alleged lack of enthusiasm for the project, Pagliarulo would later celebrate the dedication of the game's team for correcting various issues present during the game's launch.


Starfield

Pagliarulo worked on ''Starfield'' as design director and lead writer. In an interview with ''Polygon'', Pagliarulo stated that ''Starfield'' was the most ambitious RPG Bethesda has ever worked on and that the game would raise questions regarding the future of religious faith for players. After the game's mixed reception after launch and further souring in reviews post launch, Pagliarulo responded to the game's detractors, stating they were "disconnected from the realities of game developing." Prior to the release of Starfield's DLC '' Shattered Space'' Pagliarulo gave an interview with ''
GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Compute ...
'' praising the DLC as a return to form for Bethesda going back to hand-crafted exploration. After the DLC launched to mixed reviews from critics and overwhelmingly negative reviews on
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
, in another interview with ''
GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Compute ...
'', Pagliarulo alleged that the main lesson learned from ''Starfield'' is that the players really want The Elder Scrolls VI and claimed that it is coloring the reception of the game and its DLCs. He then continued claiming, "I think in a lot of ways, Starfield is the hardest thing Bethesda has ever done. We pushed ourselves to make something totally different. To just jam into an Xbox the biggest, richest space simulation RPG anyone could imagine." After the second interview, Pagliarulo offered an additional explanation to the reception, "Maybe it’s a game of expectations. Fans want a lot, and we do all we can to accommodate them. Here’s what I can tell you – nobody, and I mean nobody, at Bethesda is patting themselves on the back while ignoring our players" and that "My optimism is in no way meant to be mud in the eye of any dissatisfied fan." He insisted that “That's not how it works.” explaining that, "Starfield is a massive game, and it takes time for us to address things. We move as fast as we can, as safely as we can. Game development is always tricky, but with a game as big as Starfield, every fix could potentially break something else."


Video game credits

* '' Thief II: The Metal Age'' (2000) * '' The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon'' (2003) * '' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' (2006) * ''
Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...
'' (2008) * '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'' (2011) * ''
Fallout Shelter A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. Durin ...
'' (2015) * ''
Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for Microsoft Windo ...
'' (2015) * ''
Fallout 76 ''Fallout 76'' is a 2018 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is an installment in the ''Fallout'' series and a prequel to previous entries. Initially set in the year 2102, players ...
'' (2018) * '' Starfield'' (2023)


References


External links


Profile
at
MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pagliarulo, Emil American video game designers Bethesda Softworks employees Living people Year of birth missing (living people)