My personal take, but I am honestly incredibly emotional about the Genshin 5th year anniversary for a number of reasons, including being there on launch day and the joy of the journey
but most importantly because I always find it incredible when a game is a) able to invest and innovate in story, art, and music (the music!!!! probably the most diverse in gaming) while being able to b) continuously make money
Mannnnyyy story-driven and lore-driven triple A game franchises right now are arguably struggling. While you have one-offs from smaller developers like Baldur's Gate and Clair Obscur, the delay in TES VI, the slow death of my very beloved Bioware (fuck you EA) as well as Mass Effect and Dragon Age, etc. is a signal it is increasingly difficult to make long-winded story-driven single-player experiences vis-a-vis continuous revenue-generating games like Fortnite or Marvel Rivals under the grip shareholder capitalism has on gaming.
EA also signaled in their Q1 report this year that Dragon Age Veilguard did not do well not because of the story, but because it wasn't "live service," even though manyyy longtime fans were upset over weaker storywriting and limited choice consequences (i still loved it though)
ALL OF THIS IS FRUSTRATING because people do care about the story, the lore, the dialogue, the experience of art, regardless if it's live service or not!!!!
And I think if there's something to take away from Genshin's 5th anniversary it is possible to invest in art, music, lore, story, and other creative aspects without cutting corners for the sake of "shareholder value" . While Genshin is live service, it understands what players want, and so it invests in its narrative, characters, and overall player experience of the world as an art form
(A fate i wished for dragon age, and a fate im wishing for for all everyone's fave RPGs out there esp TES VI)
