Not in their minds. Making something good would cost more this quarter. Might make more profit when the game comes out, but that probably takes years and requires hiring talented game designers, so instead they choose to make a cheap game now and release it to the same type of people who buy Madden every year.
I mean, look at Halo Infinite. Guarantee the execs are wishing they'd released some garbage like a year after Halo 5 instead of spending all that time just to make it passably okay. I doubt that quarter's sales numbers would be significantly lower.
I'm not so sure. Briefly perusing the AC Wikipedia page, it doesn't seem like they're losing money even on their worst performers. Hell, it says Valhalla, which came out in 2020, had the best release week of any AC game they've ever made.
Even if the games suck, they're not aimed at the sort of person who can recognize that.
I just heard about this yesterday! I'm currently playing through the first, at around 55 hours and < 50% story completion and I'm loving it! I borrowed it from somebody four years ago but didn't get too involved because it wasn't my game, so I'm a bit disappointed by that. But this time I'm leaving no stone unturned, I love the combat system, and the stories and legends are fantastic! If Yotei is just as good as Tsushima, I can't wait to play it!
I still haven't played the first one, though I think I heard it got ported to PC (the greatest gaming platform ever to exist). Might just have to pick up a copy...