MysterD: Good question, especially after how hard Fallout 76 tanked.
karnak1: Maybe that's why they sold to the Microsoft overlords. I wonder if the
F76 fiasco and losses were even worse than most people imagine.
That's probably just one part of it.
Bethesda bought-out a few studios too over the years - such as BattleCry Studios (i.e. that got renamed to Bethesda Austin). They have another studio in Texas and also one in Montreal. That's 3 Studios right there, under the Bethesda name.
Buying studios like that...cannot be cheap.
Heck...and I'm not even including Zenimax buying Id Software, Arkane, Tango GameWorks, and MachineGames here; and not including Zenimax creating Zenimax Online Studios for ESO.
Thus, if a game fails hard like FO76 did and they have all these studios here...yeah, smells like a recipe for disaster. Probably another reason why they sold to Microsoft.
We also knew they were ramping-up their studios for both Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6. And I'm guessing making those two games won't be cheap either; and they probably need the $. I expect both of those to be AAA or even AAAA titles.
EDIT:
Also, anyone know how well or poorly games like Evil Within series, Prey 2017, Dishonored series, Doom series, Quake Champions, and MachineGames' Wolfenstein Reboot series sold? Did they even break even on those? Make a profit on them?
How well was Zenimax doing here with Elder Scrolls Online here, sales-wise?
Maintaining MMO's and online-only AAA games like ESO and FO76 can't be cheap.