He serves as director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he has led the development of the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls series.

His elder brother, Jeffrey Mark Howard, later became the director of creative affairs for Disney, where he oversaw the production of Bambi II.

[3] He then attended the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he majored in business while taking computer classes for credit.

[2][4] During the holiday break of his senior year in college, Howard obtained a copy of Wayne Gretzky Hockey (1988) by Bethesda Softworks in Rockville, Maryland.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he visited the offices of Bethesda Softworks, which he passed by daily on his commute to and from school.

Howard then started working for a smaller game company in Yorktown, Virginia, which enabled him to visit several conventions like the Consumer Electronics Show, where he continued approaching Bethesda to request being hired.

[7] In 2000, Howard was appointed project leader and designer for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and the expansions that followed.

[13] Howard also served as the executive producer of "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle", released by MachineGames and Lucasfilm Games.

[14] Howard admitted in 2011 that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion had sacrificed what made The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind "particular", saying: "With Oblivion, we're dealing with the capital province, and we wanted to get back to the more classic Arena and Daggerfall feel of a fantasy world that felt more refined and welcoming.

[28] During an appearance on Lex Fridman's podcast, Howard stated that he considers Tetris to be the greatest game ever created.