I don’t think big companies know how to make a good FPS campaign anymore, let alone hone in on classic deathmatch multiplayer. The last FPS I bought was Half-Life: Alyx four years ago, and the first one to come along and interest me since then was Phantom Fury, but I’m letting that one iron out bugs for a few weeks before I pick it up. Even former TimeSplitters devs, given the opportunity to make a new TimeSplitters, made another Fortnite instead. Likely this new Perfect Dark was built to turn it into a live service that keeps players playing it forever rather than just making a fun deathmatch to play with your friends a handful of times, which would be missing the point. And all this is to say nothing about how those devs must be feeling when even a great game that sells well won’t save you from Microsoft laying you off.
The complete lack of Hollywood creativity? You’re trying to use science to prove art. Just look at the releases that came out those years.
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls042393412/
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls076329509/
But what wasn’t happening back then was prestige TV pulling the top Hollywood talent to streaming platforms for a gold rush.
That’s not happening now either.
Is this bell curve change a recent thing? Because it looks to be the same ratio to me based on box office Pre-COVID.
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1992/
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2019/