Skyrim is a classic game, and there are always going to people playing it, like there will always be people playing Half Life 2, Mario and Tetris. But I think what makes Skyrim stand out is that it’s still exciting a decade later because it’s still changing and improving. Amazing groups of people are dragging that game into every new generation and changing it in every way imaginable. It has infinite replay value. So it has the draw of just being a great vanilla game but also the benefit of mods. It’s safe to say it wouldn’t be anywhere near as popular today without the huge library of mods.
i disagree with the last point. mods definitely helped, but skyrim was a complete cultural phenomenon even to people who had no idea what mods even were. it was extremely highly praised and sold great on consoles. i think it would have been a classic regardless
