Fallout 76 is not the new normal for Bethesda. Pete Hines, Bethesda’s VP of Marketing, explained that the announcements for Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI, which are years away from release, was meant to reassure fans that the studio wasn't straying away from the methods and practices that made Bethesda into what it is today.
“[The announcement] also helps convince folks, like, look, this is not forever-more what we’re doing. We are going to do a game that’s just single-player next time around, and yes, we are going to get to Elder Scrolls 6.”
Doubling down on the lengthy wait period fans will have for Starfield and the next chapter in the Elder Scrolls franchise, Hines added, "There’s going to be a long time before we’re ready to talk about what those are because we want the time between when we start to talk about it and it comes out to not be two years long or three years long."
If Hines' words are to be believed, Fallout 76 is more of an experiment or divergence than a hard-pivot on the studio's philosophy.