If you don't believe Howard, how about Digital Foundry?
They have a video online explaining why Bethesda *chose* to lock at 30fps, why and where it can hit 60fps (empty rooms!) and that reducing resolution to 720p buys nothing.
Also, by implication, why Bethesda rpg (and rpg adjacent) games run on the proprietary Creation engine(s) ant not on, say, UNREAL.
It's clear and obvious in retrospect: Bethesda RPGS are loaded with discrete in-game onjects and it keeps track of every single one. *THAT* is why it is CPU bound.
(They've done this since MORROWIND, which is why you can clear out a dungeon and it stays cleared. A friend of mine joined the Morag Tong and proceded to murder every non-essential NPC on the island. It was a very quiet place afterwards.
)
So Howard was right: the game could hit sixty fps...sometimes...where there is nothing serious happening...only to go down to 30 when things do start to happen. The choice to be conservative and lock to 30 is intended to maintain consistency across both sparse and complex areas.
Now, whether they live up to that consistency is TBD.
We'll know by october.
(But I'm not holding my breath. Somebody always finds a way to break their games.)