Ferret Baudoin, who served as the lead designer on Fallout 76, has died.
A Facebook group set up in his memory confirmed that Baudoin, who worked as a senior designer for Bethesda Softworks, died “suddenly” last weekend (October 15).
“On October 15, 2022, legendary game designer Ferret Baudoin passed,” a post in the group reads. “He is surrounded by his family and friends. He loved real life as much as games. He was a devoted husband, father, brother, and son.”
Former Fallout 76 project lead Jeff Gardiner was among those to pay tribute to Baudoin on Sunday (October 17), writing: “An eternal optimist and a dear friend. We had lunch several times since I departed Bethesda. He will be dearly missed.”
We'd text about any and all RPGs we were playing. He's the only person I know that plays more of them than @Dezinuh and I. He completed four runs of the most recent #Pathfinder @OwlcatGames RPG alone.
— Jeff Gardiner ➡️ SOMETHING WICKED GAMES (@jg93) October 17, 2022
Bethesda Game Studios design director Emil Pagliarulo also paid tribute on Twitter, saying that Baudoin was “unstoppably creative, always inspired, and he worked hard because to Ferret, it wasn’t work. He LOVED making games”.
(2/4) He was unstoppably creative, always inspired, and he worked hard because to Ferret, it wasn't work. He LOVED making games. 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.
— Emil Pagliarulo (@Dezinuh) October 18, 2022
(4/4) But what I'll miss most is a human being so filled with love for his family, his colleagues, and his craft that he constantly reminded me what the point of all this actually is – to be happy, to make each other happy, and to never forget how wonderful life really is.
— Emil Pagliarulo (@Dezinuh) October 18, 2022
Tributes to Baudoin are also being paid by gamers in Fallout 76, while an in-person tribute will take place during a Fallout 25th anniversary cosplay gathering on October 22. The event will include charity walks in four cities to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Players of #Fallout76 are leaving memorial messages up for the late, great Ferret Baudoin and if that isn't the most wholesome thing. If you do this, share and tag #ThanksFerret
I've been sharing things with his family. I don't think they realized how impactful his work was. pic.twitter.com/uDcOQ1m7pW— FalloutForHope (@FalloutForHope) October 18, 2022
As PC Gamer notes, Baudoin, whose real first name was Eric, was working as a senior designer on the upcoming game Starfield at the time of his death.
As well as Fallout 76, the late designer also worked as a quest designer and writer on Fallout 4. Prior to joining Bethesda, Baudoin spent six years as a lead designer at BioWare – where he worked on Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2 and numerous DLCs – while he previously served as a lead designer on Neverwinter Nights 2 at Obsidian Entertainment.