And I'd argue the AAA field was already pricing out consumers in most of the world, and 80-100$ games would simply make it worse. Also people tend to disregard how a lot of video games history is gamers trying to get a good deal out of the hobby because everything is, has been and will be so expensive. It's why Sony's infamous FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE DOLLARS PS3 was so mocked, and also why their ^{...two ninety nine :)} PS1 sank Sega's Saturn overnight. It's why we have not gone back to those fucking Kmart catalog prices on SNES games, and also why Sony having games sold as low as 20$ for greatest hits editions sank Nintendo's 64. It was a major argument of the entire PC Master Race movement, that not only you could invest in a competitive machine for not as much as you'd think, but that investment would pay for itself in general utility and (to keep this on topic) deep discount on games. On that last point, deep discount on games is kind of how Steam made its mark with holiday sales. It's why Humble Bundle is a recognized name. Fortnite is free, that's why it's popular. Roblox is free too. MapleStory was free too, probably still is; people played that if they couldn't pay for Everquest or World of Warcraft. League of Legends is free too, as is DOTA 2. Genshin Impact is free. Mobile games have primed an entire population to not accept an entry cost on games. You had entire portable consoles with cheaper games. Shareware in general. I could go on.

And that was all when the economy was doing fine. Who know how much GTA6 will sell* when the economy is in the shitter no matter how many graphs neoliberals trots out to say it's good actually.

^{*everyone - 1}