Fair enough. I guess my question would be, what game publishers should be used as a standard bearer then? If you want games to be developed after release, someone has to pay for that development. What other model would you like to see?
For example, let’s use Civilization VI. It came out in October 2016. They have 7 DLC (on track for 5 per year, nearly twice the pace of GalCiv III). Its base price is $59.99 plus $65 in DLC.
In the days before DLC, developers would release their game, put out a patch and move on. Now, games can continue to be updated and evolve. Developers and artists have to be paid for their work. It’s not a matter that the games are “bare bones” when they ship. They evolve based on player feedback.
In the 1990s, a game would be $50 (which would be $80 now) and you might get one expansion. The games were no more “complete” they simply didn’t get updated.