> Video game players are hilariously, pitiably dramatic.

I'm a gamer and I 100% agree with you.

The simple fact is, AAA game prices have been stuck at $60-70 for 30 years. Despite $60 in 1995 being worth ~$127 today, games are still $60. They haven't kept up with inflation. Games are relatively cheap while development costs for AAA are ridiculously high.

A typical SNES game had 10-30 people working on it and would have it done in 1.5-3 years. AAA games will have typically 1,000-3,000 and could take 3-7 years, so we're talking 100-200 times the development cost.

Now, compare the best-selling SNES games [0] to the overall best-selling games [1]. Modern AAA games barely reach 10x the unit sales as old SNES games.

Margins are thinning.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Super_Nin...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_gam...