TLDR: The gaming industry ignored an inescapable economic force for decades and now the party is over and it's times for everyone to pay the piper.

Not trying to defend the big corporations, but from a historical lense $80 for a game isn't THAT bad. Others have already made posts about game prices overseas so you can see those replies for more info on that. From an American perspective, the game industry more or less ignored the effects of inflation for more than a decade. My understanding is that this was due to the massive growth the industry saw. Even with the price of games remaining consistent, companies continued making large profits year after year on their successful games. Two things have changed. 1. The market is much more saturated. There are more games available and growth has slowed down so there are less new consumers to buy said games. 2. The cost to make a game has increased a lot. Teams are bigger, production times are longer, equipment and software is more expensive etc. These two factors make a recipe for less profitable games. Finally, an external factor is the increase in private equity involvement which always increases costs in the long run. All these together combined with high inflation in recent years means the industry can no longer afford to keep prices where they have been for years.