[thriftwy]

That's just the regions with best economics getting treats of Baumol's effect[1]

Countries with mediocre economies often afford child care and gamedev without much trouble, since their productivity is also mediocre hence their wages and spendings don't run off.

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect

[johnnyanmac]

For games (I have zero authority to speak on the economics of childcare), productivity has very much increased though. I think it tapered off a bit in the PS3 era, but the available tech lets single or small teams deliver games of similar graphical fidelity to a Gen X-1 AAA game. The main differences tend to be polish (not so much these days, sadly) and scale of games. But some people are learning bigger games don't equal more sales, nor a better game even.

But if you choose to chase that cutting edge tech unchecked, the tech available is growing faster than the tools nor talent needed (especially when you can't retain your talent).

[thriftwy]

The target for AAA is also moving fast so they're not catching their breath.