Just my take on the situation:  AAA games are a big business and as such have a focus on profits.  The cost of making games has gone up, but the amount they can sell them for has stayed fairly static and hasn't really kept up with inflation.  That is a very real problem for them, especially since the price of new games is already at the pain point and if they charge too much, people will just give them the finger and pirate the game.  I 100% acknowledge that they need a way to get more money from the games they make to stay in business.<br>However, the problem is the way they choose to do it, the greed and exploitation, is great for short term profits, but is terrible for sustainability.  Just like players got subscription fatigue years ago, players also get tired of getting milked for more money and running into pay walls in games that they have already paid for.  <br>One other side effect of their chosen way to milk players is that single player games are less profitable for them, so they make fewer and claim it is because we don't want them.  I prefer single player experiences.  I enjoy exploration and achievement more than dominating other players.  Pay to win mechanics kill that and have driven me away from multi player games.  Pay to win, by its very nature, takes away the rewards from exploration and building up skill and instead sells it to you.  Rather than being able to beat monsters for the materials you need to create or upgrade equipment, you get loot boxes and your progression is locked behind dumb luck.  I do still play some multiplayer games, but it's mostly for the social aspect, just getting to bs with people, since I'm not willing to pay the money to be a top player and many of these games seem to intentionally make the grind unfun so that you'll pay to not play the game...is it any wonder they're in trouble?