It's a challenge / response. Game companies made difficult games historically. Some subset of gamers were unable or uninterested in completing them. Consequent

It's a challenge / response. Game companies made difficult games historically. Some subset of gamers were unable or uninterested in completing them. Consequently, subsequent game companies made easier games that catered to those players. The bone of contention I have is that the easier games pretend to be difficult games. See: COD's relentless "be a badass in cinematics" style. Which if you think about it, makes sense, as all players want to imagine they're surmounting a challenge. But the real toxicity is that players themselves aren't clear on whether they're playing a difficult or easy game, because the latter game is lying about and obscuring its nature.