Game development has probably changed since you looked. I don't know of anyone who is rewriting everything between releases and even new games at new companies

Game development has probably changed since you looked. I don't know of anyone who is rewriting everything between releases and even new games at new companies are built on top of existing tech 99% of the time. The market has also changed, the big money games are almost all games-as-a-service with multi-year lifespans. For better or worse there is a lot of 'fix bugs, add some features, charge people for upgrades'. The schedules are definitely getting better as the (remaining) industry talent matures and games are less driven by putting something in a box and moving on to the next title. I'm not saying it is perfect (by any means, and some things are worse) but it is not the same industry as it was 10 years ago.