The problem is multi-layered.
Games are taking longer to make, and you would think even something like a side-scroller should be simple for a what is generally considered a AAA studio, but 3 years in development is still a high cost. A team of say 150 devs, and the average salary is basically $100k per year, that’s $45 million right off the bat, and honestly IMO, more than what should be invested into a game such as this.
Unfortunately, a lot of these gaming companies were founded by people who loved making games, but are not pushed into business roles as they’ve grown from studio to corporations, and they simply don’t have the business sense to run them. You have two groups responsible for this, the gamer turned executive who has a passion for the hobby but finance is not their area of expertise and thus a game that should have a $20 million budget ends up with a $100 million budget. Then you have the greedy shady corporate slimeballs who only want money and will run the budget up for their own personal gain, and now you have a game that should have been $20 million now at $200 million and the developers are the ones who get screwed over.
