Later in the video he discusses how times have changed once more, and solo developments turning it commercial hits is still possible. I do feel Minecraft was close enough to RTC to say that it never really stopped being possible.
But in general I think the video is just remarking how the industry evolved and it became significantly harder to compete against bigger studios in the 2000s and beyond. I think it is undoubtedly true that the benchmark for many types of games has risen beyond the capabilities of the average solo developer in terms of graphics, content and gameplay scope. But many types of games do not have the burden of high end graphics and a particularly motivated individual can still make breakthroughs.
It gets easier every year now, whereas for a while it was getting harder every year.
But in general I think the video is just remarking how the industry evolved and it became significantly harder to compete against bigger studios in the 2000s and beyond. I think it is undoubtedly true that the benchmark for many types of games has risen beyond the capabilities of the average solo developer in terms of graphics, content and gameplay scope. But many types of games do not have the burden of high end graphics and a particularly motivated individual can still make breakthroughs.
It gets easier every year now, whereas for a while it was getting harder every year.