What on Earth is Bethesda Softworks Up To?

Fresh off a hit streaming show on Amazon Prime Video (paid with ads much???) based on the venerable Fallout series, you'd think Bethesda Softworks was about to hit a their stride in an absolutely titanic way, but instead they seem to be foundering aroundering and chilling and vibing.

It's insane they didn't have a game (or at least trailer) in the chamber for when the show dropped. Oh, they had a patch for Fallout 4? Inexcusable. Plus it broke all previous modding attempts? Par for the course. Fallout 76 integration at least? Oh, no? Ok. It's like they don't want to do any of the things to capitalize on a hugely lucrative opportunity that most companies could only dream of, and they have almost unlimited resources too. 

They could've sold a million copies of Fallout 5, or a spinoff set in the show, and it would have been successful even if they half assed it, and instead they sunk a decade into a janky boring space game and released a small next-gen patch. 

Shows take a while to plan, produce, and release, at least enough time to produce (and asking for too much: fine tune) the first chapter in an episodic reboot of the Fallout series based wherever they'd like. They can use the old engine even. It wouldn't take a huge amount of resources and would build up goodwill and excitement again. An independent team of modders has created and nearly finished a FO4 total conversion set in London (there's one slated for Miami as well), meanwhile, and what exactly is the copyright holder doing? Releasing one patch with a couple of new assets and some 'next gen' stuff that's opaque and questionable at best.

This guy gulps.

Maybe they're waiting till next week to announce they've actually been doing something but it boggles my mind how they're operating. Stodgy, clumsy, and way too big to do anything quickly. I guess once there's been 18 meetings about the show's success they'll greenlight some kind of exploratory committee to discuss the possibility of a spinoff game? And we'll get it a few years after the show is done? 

At some point even the dullest dullard on Earth is going to realize that Bethesda have been resting on their laurels. But to lack business sense, to let things slide as they have done, really does puzzle this humble blogger. Bethesda are lucky people still consume their pabulum so eagerly, but that could change if they don't do what any sane company would do and capitalize on their opportunities. Many of us regular people would be slapped and insulted if we had a golden goose and just let it walk away.

Is this the endpoint of capitalism? Success so pure it turns you into a burned out failure who prints money anyway? That's quite the indictment of hustle culture when the world's strivers labour in obscurity on passion projects and the biggest brands and companies just ooze around pointlessly like vast amoeboids, consuming everything in their path and taking up all the air.