The establishment of an in-house development arm within Bethesda Softworks in 2001 would kick off one of the most successful runs of any single developer in history, with the newly founded Bethesda Game Studios taking the reins of the Elder Scrolls franchise and practically reinventing the conventions of Western RPGs overnight with the release of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. Since then, the company has consistently raised the bar for immersive, open-world RPGs with both its high-fantasy Elder Scrolls series and its successful reinvention of the Fallout franchise. And, in 2023, Bethesda Game Studios would see one of its greatest commercial successes yet with the release of its first original IP in over a decade – Starfield.