That's a deeply flawed argument though.

See, Mario 64 cost 60-70 then and new games today also cost 60 or so, that's true. BUT the relative ease of development has also changed. The quality of the tools, the flexibility of engines and languages, and the ability to distribute digitally (no physical object to manufacture or ship or store) changed the rules in favor of cheap.

Truth is games should be CHEAPER today at the AAA level, not MORE expensive. The reason they aren't is a mix of greed (the lootboxes, DLC abuse, amiibo BS, etc), a really stupid focus on graphical fidelity at the expense of framerate and anything else in a game - it's flashier so AAA always does it. Nintendo doesn't, that's true. But they're guilty of all the other abuses - and, lastly, MARKETING.

The marketing budgets for games today vs games in our childhood are absurdly different. That's where the core of the expense lies. Instead of getting better at marketing they just throw money at it in the AAA world.

That Hellblade succeeded is a testament to the changing landscape. And all the holes that exist in AAA.

They aren't grabbing at your money because of inflation. They're grabbing at it because they're a leaky ship and instead of plugging the holes they want to increase the air pressure to keep water out. I mean, yeah, in theory you can... but you could cover the hole way easier.