It's not crashing.  There will be a Consumer based correction.  Gamers love gaming and will not just bail and do other things.  AAA Companies will have to take a few stings and make corrections as to how to offer their products and make money.  As much as observers like to trash the glut of games that came out this Christmas season, people are still buying Call of Duty and Battlefield despite the things that annoy them.  I think the one resounding repackaged poorly managed failure that is Fallout 76 will teach a hard lesson to Bethesda, Zenimax and the investors who drove this pile of crap.  <br>Indies will be the source of innovation as long as they can receive investment to produce their visions, but that will mean finding investors willing to take risks, and the problem is investors usually lean on asking how their game is similar to other bestselling games.  I know this is terribly stupid, but this is the reality. Investors rely heavily on market data and trending products and are usually unwilling to dive in on indies unless that indie dev can show high numbers and social interest.  <br>Expect some indies to rise with interesting Games and if they get very popular, AAA publishers will likely buy them up, throw money,  marketing and force in pay schemes to attract investors. Gamers may get the sense that they're getting less than what they're paying for but I would disagree. Gaming companies take on large expensive staffing to produce a product people will want to buy. They plan on adding lots of features, mechanics and cutting edge visual updates that require talented expensive manpower.  As many will scoff at this notion I can tell you from experience, you get what you pay for in game development and getting the best people and a lot of them is very costly.  Game devs love to make games, but they also have to live and feed their families. <br>Games have hovered around the $60 price for a decade, and it's not bringing in the expected returns for investment as the costs of risen.  To avoid doing a jump for $79 - $99 for a complete game which would make gamers panic and the market collapse, they introduce a payscheme that brings money in from those willing to engage and most of the time being driven by investors, they overplay the micro transaction scheme. <br>Good Video and opinions here.