it is a sad state we are in, the developers got caught in the downward spiral of most economic business without even realizing they are.
the circle is painfully obvious to those that experienced before, be it in games, or in real life situations. it goes like this:
the product i am offering is not attracting new customers, and it is bringing me an economic burden i have to overcome.
the way i find to overcome it, is to reduce the amount of product offered, reduce the quality of the product offered, and increase the requirements to acquire such product.
that mentality, in turn, reduces even further the number of costumers interested in my product. as a result, i return to the previous step and further reduce the amount of product and its quality, and further increase the cost to acquire it.
the downward spiral is engaged, and steps 1 and 2 keep repeating, till the venture ceases to be profitable, which invariably leads to death for the business, shut the gates, lights out and we are done.
can it be reversed? of course it can. but not by reproducing the same steps 1 and 2. you need to really evaluate what is the product you are offering, and if its really worth for customers to spend the resources needed to acquire it.
that needs a certain degree of empathy (which is the ability or skill to see the situation from another person perspective, in this case, the customer), which sadly is not present in any and all developer interaction with the customers.
in short, we are totally fkd up and the game is, irrevocably so if not fundamentally changed, doomed to fail. the path is obvious, the result is clear, the end line is visible. its their fault for keep walking it, knowing where it leads.