In this case, it's not really how useful/appealling the software is, but if there's some kind of correlation between languages and defects. So if skyrim was rewritten is haskell, then perhaps they'd have less defects.
But looking at the data and their analysis, while there's some interesting stats saying typed and functional languages have a correlation with less defects, there's just too many variables at play.
Skyrim actually runs in a VM. So it's already futuristic. And still crashes like a piece of crap written.
I think the 2nd or 3rd STALKER (or all) run in VM as well and... crash and corrupt saves like crazy.
And for those who don't get how it's related. A VM is "supposed" to be pretty damn crash-proof and "safer" much like functional languages. But that doesn't stop deadlines and bad coding practices from creating broken products.
Every Java program runs on a VM. It does not magically prevent sloppy Java code from crashing. It does prevent a lot of memory errors typical for sloppy C code, though.
But looking at the data and their analysis, while there's some interesting stats saying typed and functional languages have a correlation with less defects, there's just too many variables at play.