Skyrim could still be one of the most played games today, if the code wasn’t a steaming pile of garbage. The modding scene is already one of the largest in existence, and if it was as mutable as Minecraft it could stick around as the 3D rpg modding platform.
Instead Bethesda throws minor updates no one wants that breaks everything every few years, and then makes 4 more games using the same steaming pile of garbage that holds everything back over a decade. Fallout 4 was pretty decent, and 76 may have redeemable writing underneath the crusty shovelware coating, but then Starfield is trash in every way.
Skyrim was barely acceptable 15 years ago, but the engine isn’t capable of much more than a visual novel today, and all the decent writers have been chased away by Bethesda. Anyone writing new software would be an improvement.