Publishers really are stupid. They don't get it Gamers want to give you our money. We want to open our wallet and shower publishers with money. But we want to do that for gaming experiences that at a minimum equal and surpass gaming experiences we used to get 15 years ago.
Games nowadays do not feel even equivalent to games we used to play. So we aren't giving you our money. Honestly, if there was a game that was $80, but it was so groundbreaking it was like Halo CE, or Halo 2, or Super Mario 64, or anything like that, then people would pay it.
No games now have the same impact. Therefore, they are not worth such a high cost.