Yes another topic on the acquisition. But I think people have focused way too much on Microsoft and not enough on Bethesda.
Bethesda hasn't really been doing well for quite a few years. Their focus on single player games hasn't been as successful as Sony's. They even did a save single player campaign and yet after that campaign their games still haven't sold all that great.
Fallout 4 sold well but I think even Bethesda knows they are falling behind when it comes to RPGs with Unisoft adding RPG elements to their games, same with God of War. Finally Witcher 3 just made their games seem so outdated. Although Fallout 4 felt like a fossil when it came out it still managed to sell well, but it was a sign of a downward trend for one of their most popular IPs. Then came Fallout 76 and that was a critical and commercial failure.
Let's move on to Skyrim, that was a outstanding RPG for the time, and people still love it to this day. However if the next Elder Scrolls is basically a Fallout 4 type sequel then I don't think it would be critically successful. As the industry has improved so much with open world games since the original Skyrim. Bethesda still has yet to show any gameplay with the next Elder Scrolls so it's anyone's guess how much of a jump the next Elder Scrolls is compared to other games in the industry.
So that's 2 of Bethesdas IP that are still successful but have potential to go wrong if they don't make decent sequels. But now let's move on to their games that have actually haven't sold so great even though they have been rated high with critics. Prey, Dishonored 2, Dishonored Death of a Outsider, The Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein New Colossus, Youngblood, Cyberpilot, Rage 2 all haven't exactly set the sales chart on fire. I think if Bethesda studios carried on as they were they would have shuttered Tango Gameworks, Machine Games, and Arkane. It was obvious that they were not confident with sales from these teams and led to things like time exclusive deal for Deathloop with Sony for extra marketing.
The only Bethesda IP I cannot faulty and has been doing great is the Doom franchise.
People giving Microsoft slack for purchasing Bethesda don't understand that if Bethesda continued the way they were we would have had studios shuttered so it's a great thing Microsoft bought Bethesda. It's better than what Sony does where they pay for franchises time exclusives to keep games off their competitors. With this Microsoft is still taking a risk and buying these studios and eating their costs for developing their games. Games like Dishonored 2 and Wolfenstein are perfect fits for Gamepass where sales don't matter as much.
Bethesda hasn't really been doing well for quite a few years. Their focus on single player games hasn't been as successful as Sony's. They even did a save single player campaign and yet after that campaign their games still haven't sold all that great.
Fallout 4 sold well but I think even Bethesda knows they are falling behind when it comes to RPGs with Unisoft adding RPG elements to their games, same with God of War. Finally Witcher 3 just made their games seem so outdated. Although Fallout 4 felt like a fossil when it came out it still managed to sell well, but it was a sign of a downward trend for one of their most popular IPs. Then came Fallout 76 and that was a critical and commercial failure.
Let's move on to Skyrim, that was a outstanding RPG for the time, and people still love it to this day. However if the next Elder Scrolls is basically a Fallout 4 type sequel then I don't think it would be critically successful. As the industry has improved so much with open world games since the original Skyrim. Bethesda still has yet to show any gameplay with the next Elder Scrolls so it's anyone's guess how much of a jump the next Elder Scrolls is compared to other games in the industry.
So that's 2 of Bethesdas IP that are still successful but have potential to go wrong if they don't make decent sequels. But now let's move on to their games that have actually haven't sold so great even though they have been rated high with critics. Prey, Dishonored 2, Dishonored Death of a Outsider, The Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein New Colossus, Youngblood, Cyberpilot, Rage 2 all haven't exactly set the sales chart on fire. I think if Bethesda studios carried on as they were they would have shuttered Tango Gameworks, Machine Games, and Arkane. It was obvious that they were not confident with sales from these teams and led to things like time exclusive deal for Deathloop with Sony for extra marketing.
The only Bethesda IP I cannot faulty and has been doing great is the Doom franchise.
People giving Microsoft slack for purchasing Bethesda don't understand that if Bethesda continued the way they were we would have had studios shuttered so it's a great thing Microsoft bought Bethesda. It's better than what Sony does where they pay for franchises time exclusives to keep games off their competitors. With this Microsoft is still taking a risk and buying these studios and eating their costs for developing their games. Games like Dishonored 2 and Wolfenstein are perfect fits for Gamepass where sales don't matter as much.
