I'm kind of partial to The Definition of Insanity... not nessecarily becuase it's the funniest, but becuase I think it's spread the farthest away from gaming so I never know who's gonna drop that line.

I liked both?

There really is a reason for the complaints- they're more valid than you give them credit for! The reason is, as you state, money. Big triple-A publishers want more money than ever before. So, the games that get made are not inherently what people want- they're what turns the highest profits. That means genres getting homogenized into identical gameplay frameworks in an attempt to get the largest fantasy possible... 100 million kind-of fans is better than 10 million diehards as long as they all buy the game. It means Live Services rule the roost because a game you keep paying for month after month for years is way better than one you only buy once. It's way cheaper to maintain & patch a game than make a new one.

I don't play first person shooters. Something about the camera angle doesn't click with me. So after Halo blew up & companies had time to copy it for the 7th generation... well, I didn't play much in the AAA space that generation. It doesn't mean I played nothing, but when you can beat a game in a couple weeks & there's less than 10 releases in a year across 3 consoles you want? It certainly can feel like you're left out.

Of course, the complaining still seems a bit silly to me for one big reason: screw AAA, embrace the indie & retro. There's still a wealth of the purer, niche genres to be had if you move to smaller publishers- far easier to do since 8th gen saw the rise of the boutique, limited release publisher. And there's no reason to not just keep replaying your favorite old games! There's always something to play, if you're willing to find it- so keep looking & enjoy what's out there!

I would assume Rick is better recieved than Pete... by propagating a secondhand market, Rick increases the percieved value of a game, thus allowing the publisher to charge more for it. Pete's actions cannot inflate the game's value & could jeopardize customer data if the hackers are good & the publisher did a shoddy job on the release.

However, I imagine gamedevs are more bothered by the publisher/corporate themselves, given the horror stories we often see. Also probably worse is Eddie the Entitled, an internet troll who's been sending the devs & their families detailed, specfic death threats because they made the main character have different hair in the sequel, or the release got delayed a month.