And then they promptly squandered that market position. Which culminated in a Microsoft buyout and a hollowing out of anything innovate or interesting. Sure, the next Fallout and Elder Scrolls games will make a splash on name recognition alone; but, unless they find a way to deliver a good player experience, those titles could easily drive those properties into the ground.

Maybe they did. But Skyrim released 15 years ago and Bethesda hasn’t really released anything on the same level since then.

I don’t think too many people are concerned about Bethesda being a GOTY winner since then. It sure would be nice if others copied the formula and got crazy with it though. Yes, KCD2 rules, but it’s set in a pretty grounded reality, so the potential of what you could do in a sci-fi or magical setting is way higher.