The problem with that line of though is that games have never been as much "for everyone" as in 2025.
The only thing that's not for everyone in gaming lately is the gatekeeping. Devs will try to appeal to as many people as they can, but if you dare have your own tastes and prefer something a bit more obscure, then you have "L takes" because at the moment, popular opinion equals right opinion.
So devs should simply own the fact they water down their g...
Okay, but The Game Awards are the most biased, least game-centric awards of all big 5 (with GJA, GDCA, BAFTA, DICE). They're diet E3, an ad reel for new games with awards as a side dish.
Almost none of TGA's GotY winners are the true game of the year besides maybe Baldur's Gate 3 and Elden Ring (which had no competition in 2022 aside for God of War).
Elden Ring's buildcrafting is nowhere near as good as the first two examples. Dark Souls had TONS of dead end, non-viable builds. Elden Ring is an improvement, but it's just one step in the right direction out of a dozen.
And it honestly wasn't that good. In fact, Demon's Souls is their first true "good" game, 15 years after debuting.
If any dev company would start today, they wouldn't be able to afford 3 years before reaching success, let alone 15.
Okay, but "games I'm not meant to love" means I won't play them.
Games are for fun. They're their own art, it's a disservice to reduce them to interactive stories. You can focus on making your audience entertained on a positive way and still stand out.