Maybe the gaming industry needs another collapse.
AAA needs a shake up, that's for sure, if it's just going to continue on it's current trajectory of "nothing new but costs more".

Most of the AAA's can't even be bothered to include as much content and as many systems as games from decades ago. You can play PlayStation 1 & 2 games that are just as complex or more complex than games releases recently. It's all the same stuff but with more pixels and larger localization folders.

Why is Skyfield 130 GBs when at it's core it has all the same functions as Oblivion or Fallout? Why does Octopath Traveller have a sliver of the in-game content that games like Star Ocean and Final Fantasy 9 had? Sports games and Shooters were lost causes years ago.

Indie devs have been making games that are far more fun and original than most AAA teams of multiple hundreds have been able to do in awhile.

The big guys need to return to focusing on fun. Some AAA's can still do it. BG3 and Zelda are the current obvious examples. Those games are Fun. That's what games are supposed to be.

Also, battle passes and season passes and everything that horse armor spawned can all go in the trash when there is another video game collapse.