The creators of the original games, Black Isle Studios, went on to form Obsidian Entertainment who created Fallout: New Vegas; which means the original Fallout games and the best console Fallout game were all made by Obsidian. All Bethesda has done is Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76 now I may be crucified for saying New Vegas is better than 3 but gameplay, story, RPG elements, actual colours, all made it the better game and we can see the hot garbage Bethesda put out with those other two games. FUNNIEST thing is New Vegas was rushed and still came out better, but now we see what happens when Obsidian gets to make a game like that with no rush from anyone, and it's a smash hit that's flying off shelves and selling well digitally; even though it's on Game Pass there are still Xbox One copies sold.
What do I mean by my title and say irrelevant, well look at it this way, Bethesda has hit issue after issue with Fallout 76: massive glitches, an unimpressive launch, false advertising, broken promises on cosmetic vs gameplay sales in store, a $100 subscription service that launched broken, and more. Then in a non-Fallout sense, the broken microtransaction-riddled mess that is Elder Scrolls: Blades, the poor support for Elder Scrolls Online, the constant re-releases of Skyrim (itself not the best Elder Scrolls game, that's Oblivion), the botched promotions and things that followed the release of Fallout 76, the poor handling of post-Fallout 4 gameplay updates. The one thing we always gave Bethesda was: the games were full of glitches but they were fun to play so we let it pass; well we saw how they make games when there is no story or real gameplay to back it up and was just the glitches they usually have, we saw in 76 and THAT is the true Bethesda.
What we see with the release of The Outer Worlds, Obsidian has put together the "new Fallout" essentially, a chance to create a new franchise out of nothing. A game that is visually stunning, with interesting environments, creative creatures, good dialogue, in-depth character creation, great party members, and so much more. So rather than play the actual Fallout or the garbage that they have in 76, why not play what you actually want, a solidly built RPG by a company with a positive past and well built renown. They've shown Bethesda how to do what they've been doing by actually doing it properly; by not releasing a game full of bugs and glitches pulled together by thin streads of story. A proper RPG the way fans of Bethesda games want things done.
Because let's look at the games Bethesda has published that have all had solid gameplay: DOOM, Wolfenstein: New Order, Wolfenstein: New Colossus, Prey, Dishonored 1 & 2, Fallout: New Vegas, etc. What's the common denominator ?? Bethesda is publishing these games for id Studios, Arkane Softworks, Obsidian Entertainment; Bethesda with their boatloads of money as a publisher is gold, Bethesda with their games is trash. I say irrelevant because they've been on this path for awhile now because of those above mentioned games exposing Bethesda for being a better publisher than developer; The Outer Worlds being an out of studio work by Obsidian in the same vein as a Fallout game but 100x better than what's come out in the past 5 years proves just how unnecessary Bethesda DEVELOPING games is. Bethesda's licenses of Fallout and the Elder Scrolls, as well as their large amounts of money as a publisher though, that is needed in the game space.
We no longer need to "rely" on Bethesda to come out with that open world, in-depth RPG anymore, because there are companies that do it better in every way and it's exactly the same style game. Obsidian just basically put Bethesda on notice, you better make Elder Scrolls 6 a quality game or we'll do a high fantasy game next and crush whatever good will you still have with the people you've constantly been pissing off.
Obsidian Entertainment releases a trailer, that throws shade at Bethesda, then comes out with a game better than any Bethesda game since Fallout: New Vegas which was........wait made by Obsidian...........so what am I oh ya they made themselves the true RPG company and told Bethesda, "fuck off with your Fallout 76 garbage, keep publishing games, stop making them please for the love of God stop making them."