Fallout 76, Starfield Designer Ferret Baudoin Has Died
Ferret Baudoin, a game developer who worked for Bethesda Softworks, has died. He was most recently known for his role as the lead designer on the post-launch Fallout 76 experience as well as his position as a senior designer working on Starfield. Baudoin died on October 15th, announcements on social said, with a Facebook page set up in his honor the developer and memories of him.
News of Baudoin's death was first publicized in a Facebook page titled "Long Live Ferret Baudoin" which is the same one where users have begun sharing anecdotes about their encounters and fond memories shared with the "Lore Keeper." Fellow developer Jeff Gardiner who previously served as a project lead at Bethesda Game Studios shared news of Baudoin's death on Twitter.
"Help keep the Lore Keeper's lore alive," the tribute page on Facebook reads. "On October 15, 2022, legendary game designer Ferret Baudoin passed suddenly. He is surrounded by his family. He loved real life as much as games. He was a devoted husband, father, brother, and son. This is a safe place to share his amazing story."
I'm crushed right now. Ferret Baudoin took over as lead designer on #Fallout76 for wastelanders. An eternal optimist and a dear friend. We had lunch several times since I departed Bethesda. He will be dearly missed. https://t.co/Pi1FBiGntY
— Jeff Gardiner ➡️ SOMETHING WICKED GAMES (@jg93) October 17, 2022
Emil Pagliarulo, the lead designer working on Bethesda's Starfield game, tweeted about Baudoin's passing as well and praised the developer as "unstoppably creative, always inspired."
"He was unstoppably creative, always inspired, and he worked hard because to Ferret, it wasn't work. He LOVED making games," Pagliarulo said in a thread paying tribute to Baudoin. "Almost every design conversation we had ended with us looking at a piece of content and agreeing on how to make it better, make it more fun."
Members of the Fallout 76 community are also sharing tributes to Baudoin in-game.
Prior to his work on Fallout 76 and Starfield, Baudoin had a long history working on different titles at Bethesda, BioWare, Obsidian Entertainment, and more. Those games include Fallout 4, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age, Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, Fallout 3, and more.