For sure it’s at least a big factor in most cases. Consumerism, the whole keeping up with the Jones thing, and that thirst for the next hottest thing is pretty inarguably a big factor. But 20, 30 years ago, you didn’t have back to back to back triple A games being released in unplayable states. There was no day 1 updates and all of that. Don’t get me wrong, that can be a good thing too, but there’s no world where it’s acceptable that a customer should be leaving a storefront with a $80-100 game that isn’t really functional.
In fact, I’d bet if one was to correlate the introduction and consolidation of private equity companies/IPOs (and all of that) to the video game industry, and the instances of this happening, that you’d find pretty significant correlation. Aka the shareholders demand that profits always increase quarter over quarter, so some things get rushed out the door against the will of the people actually creating the product. The fucking suits basically.