Ted Peterson (writer)

Ted Peterson
Peterson in 2024
Occupations	Writer video game designer
Known for	The Elder Scrolls series

Ted Peterson is a writer and video game designer best known for his work on The Elder Scrolls series. He co-founded the independent game studio OnceLost Games with Julian LeFay and Vijay Lakshman in 2019.

Career

Peterson joined Bethesda Softworks as a junior writer in the early 1990s after responding to an advertisement in The Washington Post . ^[1] His first project at Bethesda was writing for The Terminator 2029 , followed by The Terminator: Rampage . ^[2] During his time at Bethesda, he worked as a designer and writer on The Elder Scrolls: Arena and lead designer on The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall . ^[3] He left the company in 1996, ^[4] just as Daggerfall was completed. After leaving Bethesda, Peterson joined Activision and worked as a writer on Heavy Gear II , also performing freelance work for Bethesda on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion . ^[3] As a writer for Bethesda, Peterson wrote almost 200,000 words of prose within in-game books in The Elder Scrolls. ^[5]

Peterson worked at Savage Entertainment for ten years, contributing to games such as Star Wars: Battlefront II (PSP; 2005) and WALL-E (2008). ^[6] He has also worked for Electronic Arts and Disney. ^[7]

In 2019, Peterson co-founded the independent game studio OnceLost Games alongside former Bethesda developers Julian LeFay and Vijay Lakshman. ^[7] The studio is developing The Wayward Realms , described as a "spiritual successor to Daggerfall", funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign. ^[8]

Games

List of video games worked on by Ted Peterson

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes
1992	The Terminator 2029	Writer	[2]
1993	The Terminator: Rampage	Writer	[2]
1994	The Elder Scrolls: Arena	Designer and writer	[3]
1996	The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall	Lead designer	[3]
1997	Zork: Grand Inquisitor	Designer	[9]
1999	Heavy Gear II	Writer	[9]
2002	The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind	Additional Writing & Quest Design	[3]
2005	Star Wars: Battlefront II (PSP)		[6]
2006	The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	Additional Writing	[3]
2008	WALL-E		[6]
TDB	The Wayward Realms		[10]

Television

• Bones season 12, story writer and editor ^[7]

References

Citations

1. Power Play (1995); Edwards (2014).
2. Indigo Gaming (2018), 3:00.
3. Peterson (2019).
4. Power Play (1996).
5. Indigo Gaming (2018), 0:37.
6. Indigo Gaming (2018), 2:23:30.
7. Kane (2019).
8. Beistad (2024); Smith (2024); White (2025).
9. Peterson (2001).
10. White (2025).

Sources

• Beistad, L. B. (17 September 2024). "Wayward Realms' Approach to Stealth Should be a Trailblazer For Fantasy RPGs". Game Rant . Canada: Valnet. Archived from the original on 19 June 2025. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• Edwards, Matt (August 2014). "A History of The Elder Scrolls". Retro Gamer . No. 131. United Kingdom: Imagine Publishing. p. 66. Retrieved 20 July 2025– via the Internet Archive.
• [Indigo Gaming] (2 October 2018). Ted Peterson Interview: Designer & Writer on Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind & Oblivion (Video). Retrieved 20 July 2025– via YouTube.
• Kane, Alex James (27 September 2019). "'Daggerfall' Designer Ted Peterson On His New RPG Studio, OnceLost Games". Forbes . United States. Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• Peterson, Ted (2001). "Ted Peterson Interview". Morrowind Italia. Archived from the original on 13 April 2001. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• Peterson, Ted (19 April 2019). "The Elder Scrolls at 25: How I Created Bethesda's Legendary RPG Series". The Escapist . United States: Enthusiast Gaming . Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• [Power Play] (November 1995). "Interview: Ted Peterson". Power Play (in German). Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• [Power Play] (July 1996). "Designerfall: Bethesdas Rollenspiel Daggerfall in der Krise?" [Designerfall: Bethesda role-playing game Daggerfall in crisis?]. Power Play (magazine)  [ de ]. Archived from the original on 15 May 1997. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• Smith, Ed (23 April 2024). "Ex Elder Scrolls devs are making a huge spiritual sequel to Daggerfall". PCGamesN . United Kingdom: Network N Media. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• White, Lewis (31 January 2025). "Elder Scrolls creator Ted Peterson is "glad that people are wanting to break away from" watered-down RPGs as he works on an epic Daggerfall successor". VideoGamer. United Kingdom: BGFG. Retrieved 20 July 2025.

Further reading

Articles

• Bailey, Kat (21 March 2024). "The Elder Scrolls' Creators Reveal How Accidental Plagiarism Was Part of Its Origin Story". IGN . Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• McGlynn, Anthony (20 March 2021). "The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion at 15 - The Ted Peterson Interview". Gamer Network . United Kingdom: Reedpop . Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• White, Lewis (27 January 2025). "Elder Scrolls co-creator is "super grateful" for fans remaking old games, but the feeling is bittersweet – "no one had to recreate Casablanca"". VideoGamer. United Kingdom: BGFG. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
• White, Lewis (29 January 2025). "Elder Scrolls creator Ted Peterson speaks out on Morrowind's most essential lore contribution as a "really silly" idea". VideoGamer. United Kingdom: BGFG. Retrieved 18 July 2025.

Audio and video

• Peterson, Ted; LeFay, Julian (28 January 2025). An Interview With The Fathers (Video). Wayward Radio. OnceLost Games. Retrieved 19 July 2025– via YouTube.com.

External links

• Ted Peterson at IMDb
• Ted Peterson at MobyGames
• Ted Peterson at Giant Bomb