really? hmm weird, because 95% of my playthroughs are unmodded, and i still play it regularly. i would be extremely shocked if im the only one in the world not using mods
and hell, before mods were on consoles there were STILL plenty of people playing it
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