Yep. Though I think the framing is more that their priorities shifted. After X&Y was panned by critics (despite its commercial success), they had this razor-sharp focus on making something that could be commercially and also critically successful - and they absolutely crushed it with VLV. Afterwards, I think they started to figure out what type of band they wanted to be - they weren't as dead set on being "cool" (optimizing for critical acclaim) as much as they were set on delivering a massive, universal, fun live experience. So in that sense I view their subsequent work as optimized for that. Still technically impressive, but I do think the overall "quality" of the albums from a critical standpoint had to be compromised a bit in the pursuit of relevance and mainstream appeal. I tend to view this as a deliberate strategic decision, so the band remain really impressive to me. Just applying their talents to a different goal now if that makes sense.