I expect them to "ride the skyrim wave" where it counts, map size, explorability, and all that open world shit. The RPG elements, c&c, characters, and writing on the other hand, received no praise, and are generally disliked by reviewers(Whose opinions Bethesda values.). It would be stupid of them to implement badly received aspects of the game because it sold a lot.
Bethesda customers generally don't like c&c, or at least a good number of them don't. They don't like the game "preventing them from doing things". They believe a player should be able to experience the entire game in one playthrough.
They could upgrade the writing, and that would probably be well received, but if they were able to put forward good writing, would they already be doing it?
Thing is, limiting reactivity in an open world game also
severely limits how well you could possible write the thing. Once you start giving people reasonable motivation and character, it soon follows that they need to react to how you're doing things. Think about how ridicoulously evil and sociopathic you can be in Skyrim without sensible companions reacting and how glaring that is. That's not the writing's fault, it's that you can't do good writing here without the companion actually reacting to you being a sociopathic mass murderer. In a way, companions being more writing-focused in Skyrim is way more destructive for that game's consistency that a silent companion without a character would have been.
Not a problem in a linear game where your choices are limited.
I can't really wrap my head around the concept of "good writing" existing in a Disneyland like that (Skyrim, for example). All dialogue is basically exposition and/or the guy who maintains a given ride presenting the ride to you. There's not much leeway for actual writing there.
