The internet continues to put way too much onus on Todd Howard, though. I don't see why or how everyone assumes he is the only person that makes all decisions at Bethesda, has too much of a tight grip over everything, etc. A lot of those character traits are just ballooned rumors, compounded over the years from various internet discussion boards playing a glorified game of telephone about this man. I've met the artist that made a lot of the 3D models still used by Bethesda, and even he admitted that Todd had very little "omnipotence" over how projects came to be. He would be in charge, yes, but functions similar to any boss in any setting. The internet just needs a target, most of the time.
Bethesda is just leaning into the new game development cycle that all developers have embrace - release, monetize, delay new titles. I don't give them the pass for it, but it's the same idea as getting mad at only Nintendo for expensive games, when we have had $70-80 games for years. All of these companies are slowing down their development cycles, thinning out their teams, taking decades to make games that used to take 2-3 years. Something has entirely changed within the industry that is out of our control. Our wallets, quite literally, do nothing to prevent them from stopping the madness that is enshitificating the gaming industry. Rockstar Games went completely overboard with GTA5, making it a digital casino whether people like to admit that or not. RDR2 completely stopped getting attention because a person was more willing to spend real money on a shark card for in-game GTA currency. TF???
There really is no excuse as to why the development cycle has ballooned into this nightmare of a waiting game, but the explanation is clear as day. They don't care, and we continue to buy their shit, because what else are we going to do? Not play? Yeah that'll show them, that group of 30 people boycotting a game against 540,000 active players. It sucks feeling so powerless within an industry that has molded you as a person, as corny as that sounds. Oblivion set the stage for the types of games I would continue to enjoy up to now. I owe a lot of my early fascination of lore and deep world building to Oblivion. I was ready for Starfield to continue to build on what was started, but when that didn't happen, I think I finally came to terms with it. We lived through the golden era and it's done. The games we enjoyed during the golden era will always be our favorites. Which is why I am ready to spend whatever I have to spend to play this dumb fuckin remake, and no longer have anxiety/desire for a TES 6.
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