The current industry has survived tons of buggy and terrible games, but what will be the high profile bomb that does an ET and destroys the reputation of the entire industry?
Starfield is insanely hyped, if that bombs, it could have big repercussions.
Other than that, we could have the industry stagnate down to just first-party publishers, considering how Activision has become yet another part of Microsoft.
Maybe it's not possible to have another video game crash, maybe the industry is too established for that to happen again. It's an interesting discussion.
How would you deal with the non-gambling based microtransactions which are just as common? Nothing kills a game for me like having to pay the full release price again to remain competitive.
I go play something else untill they release their "deluxe expansions included multipack bundle value +" blabla the actual full game at a discount.
Or sailing the Seven Seas.
Dosen't work for MMORPGS though.
I doubt there is a legal way out of rip-off "expansions". They will just release those as "Whatever Adventure 2! With compatibility to your progress in W A 1!"