This is a bigger problem and I'd argue has a lot more to do with the maturity of the software industry, if you will. In the 1990s and 2000s a small studio could engineer a lean game engine, such as the Infinity Engine used in Baldur's Gate 1, 2, Icewind Dale, and whatever and build their games. Infinity remains a remarkably lean and mean game engine that puts some of the 2020s engines for the same genre to shame. BG1 does 5 times as many calculations under the hood than the 2023 Rogue Trader game and does it in real time.
It takes some serious engineering chops to create something like that. The feast or famine game development industry is well, stressful. Those kind of skills can get you a high paying job with almost no stress at big corporate. So its a no brainer that the very best devs with anything less than total passion for video games just go and do something else. The result is that the less skilled but very passionate types rely on engines as services and messier technologies like Unreal 5 to make games. While they have success due to their passion, the lack of skill becomes increasingly obvious.
