Partially true. If you make it too easy for the customer to get what they want, they won't have the time or inclination to engage with your true content: your brand and your ads.
So, increase the complexity. A certain number of savvy people will click off immediately, but they were likely too clever to bother with your game, so no love lost there. The ones who stick with it are your ideal targets. They'll wrestle through anything you throw at them to get what they want as long as you keep teasing that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
However, you also can't make totally random, nonsensical design choices. They need to have a pattern that guides them in the darkness to the actions and outcomes you want most. It's your site after all, and no one can or will tell you how to run it as long as you show those retention and engagement numbers going up, so remember that.
Now that they're spinning in circles clicking on anything and everything trying to understand the labyrinth you've set out for them, you've got nothing to worry about. They've sunk their time and attention into solving this, and you're going to have them come back soon with a new strategy they're excited to try to beat the game. Once they feel like they've beaten you, you've won. They'll keep coming back just to prove to themselves that they've figured it out. They'll search on behalf of their friends and family, rising in their estimation.
Now they smirk and with just a hint of pride say whenever someone complains about how hard your site is to navigate, "Oh, it's not that hard. You've just got to know how it works."