Well yeah, I'm not going to argue that a well made game that respects the player isn't going to do well. But that doesn't matter to the publishers and their shareholders when they can pump out AI slop garbage year after year and still have people that drink it up. Just look at the yearly shooters and sports games, they sell enough.

Besides, what happens when this sort of slop has been normalised? Look at the mobile market, no one bats an eye at the intensely predatory microtransactions, and you'll even find people defending things like gacha games.

There was a time where people scoffed at the notion of paying $2~ for some shitty cosmetics, but now people don't even blink at the idea. Hell, it's downright cheap in some cases. The AAA industry just has to slop things up for long enough for people to stop caring, because they will stop caring and then continue to shell out for the dubious privilege of guzzling their mediocre, uninspiring garbage.

Not to mention inertia from studio rep. I'd buy Bethesda hotdog water at some points for those studio. Now they could promise me head from a talented hooker with a clean record and I'd still probally pass cause Id probally just end 39 hours sore, blueballed, and being asked for the next payment.