There are Bethesda games as in made by the studio and Bethesda games as in the game genre that only Bethesda (And Oblivion once) produces with their proprietary game engine. A major aspect of the game genre version of Bethesda game is that the “main” story is neither necessary or important for the player’s enjoyment. The main story is typically one of many things the player can do and is not usually what fans of the genre are most interested in. Finishing a Bethesda game means doing everything that’s in it or getting bored at some point before that.
There are still tons of people playing all Bethesda games from Morrowind to Fallout 4 to this day with active mod scenes and setting discussion communities keeping the playerbases of those games alive. People having a nice enough time after the story and quitting since there’s nothing else interesting to do is not what fans of Bethesda games want from a game like this. Compared to other linear shooters I’m sure it’s fine enough, but I don’t think this is what anyone wanted for Starfield.
I mean part of that is people just finishing the game. That’s fine.
But also the consensus seems to be the game is at best “okay”, and people won’t be going back to it like they do with Skyrim.
I’m not sure if anyone at Bethesda honestly expected it to be better.
I can see that side of things, but people often re-play games that they love.
Looking at Bethesda’s games being played right now, Starfield is 4th place, but the newest by far.
Skyrim (special Edition) https://steamdb.info/app/489830/charts/
26,600 players online when I made this comment.
Fallout 4 https://steamdb.info/app/377160/
19,650 players online when I made this comment.
The Eldar Scrolls online https://steamdb.info/app/306130/charts/
16.304 players online when I made this comment.
Starfield https://steamdb.info/app/1716740/charts/
9,086 players online when I made this comment.
Fallout76 https://steamdb.info/app/1151340/charts/
7,596 players online when I made this comment.
Your point stands but The Elder Scrolls Online doesn’t count. The game studio is completely different and its akin to comparing an id game.
People are still playing skyrim
There are Bethesda games as in made by the studio and Bethesda games as in the game genre that only Bethesda (And Oblivion once) produces with their proprietary game engine. A major aspect of the game genre version of Bethesda game is that the “main” story is neither necessary or important for the player’s enjoyment. The main story is typically one of many things the player can do and is not usually what fans of the genre are most interested in. Finishing a Bethesda game means doing everything that’s in it or getting bored at some point before that.
There are still tons of people playing all Bethesda games from Morrowind to Fallout 4 to this day with active mod scenes and setting discussion communities keeping the playerbases of those games alive. People having a nice enough time after the story and quitting since there’s nothing else interesting to do is not what fans of Bethesda games want from a game like this. Compared to other linear shooters I’m sure it’s fine enough, but I don’t think this is what anyone wanted for Starfield.