Hear me out, Bethesda hasn’t made a really successful game since Skyrim. their new overlords are more than happy to shuffle them around, and who’s to say Todd Howard won’t retire after TES6 is launched?
I’m seeing a lot of parallels to Bioware, with game after game not doing as hot as the previous ones, and XBOX being very trigger happy with axing studios that aren’t pulling their weight, similar to EA.
It’s possible TES6, if it releases, will be the make it or break it of the company.
There’s probably a AAA crash coming. Bethesda probably gets shutdown then. What I don’t know is if that crash will happen before they release another game. I wouldn’t be surprised if MS leaves the gaming market entirely with the crash.
AAA costs too much to produce and rarely makes its money back. Indie is flooded with vibe coded Unity crap. The middle is lost in the sea with all of the above. Wouldn’t be surprised if there is a bit of a reset in the coming years, especially after the rumored $1200-$1800 project helix pricing.
I don’t see consoles making it more than another 1-2 generations. PC is hitting cost and performance parity without the lock in.