This is such a retarded take for excusing the state various entertainment industries are in today. Nobody's comparing the stinkers, they're comparing the major popular titles that stand out. In the late 90s you'd have like a dozen groundbreaking games in a year across several genres competing with one another for attention and possibly reinventing or reviving their respective genre. Nowadays you have Remakes/Remasters and sequels for the most part or attempts to cash in on the glory of past franchises. And we're not even talking about things like Microtransactions, DLC and other creative bankruptcy here, or political concerns and "DIVERSITY" that are declines making games worse by themselves. People looked forward to and were hyped about many titles releasing back then, what bigger title is there to look forward to this year? What about last year? Was it the amazing Cyberpunk 2077 shit show?
Also it's not like these products stopped existing, people can go back and play games from the late 90s or watch movies from decades past and see that they're a lot better than the majority of shit released today. Aside from a few technical aspects they still hold up well.
Just go year by year and compare the big releases and major titles from today and 20 years ago and the state of the industry. Try to match them up with their "Current Year" equivalents. Sure, there are some smaller games and rough gems that are worth playing nowadays, but barely anything that really stands out and will be remembered 20-30 years from now, despite there being more releases than ever before.
2021: There's Psychonauts 2, Resident Evil VIIage, New World and Tales of Arise I guess, also Remakes of Tony Hawk 1+2, Mass Effect, Diablo II and Rereleases of various other franchises
2020: Half Life: Alyx, DOOM Eternal, Ghost of Tsushima, a new Microsoft Flight Simulator and stuff like
Hades, Cyberpunk 2077 or Last of Us II (lol), Demon's Souls Remake, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Mafia Remake, C&C Remaster, Crysis Remaster, WarCraft III "Remaster", Halo/Persona 4 PC Rereleases
2019: Sekiro, Death Stranding, Devil May Cry 5,
Disco Elysium, Gears 5, Control, Anthem and The Outer Worlds (lol), Resident Evil 2 Remake, and a bunch of Remasters and Rereleases like Age of Empires II
2001: GTA 3, Halo, Metal Gear 2, Devil May Cry, ICO, Black & White, Civilization III, Rayman 2, Pikmin, Max Payne, Silent Hill 2, Tribes 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, BG2: Throne of Bhaal, Diablo 2: LoD, Serious Sam, Commandos 2, Startopia, Wizardry 8, Aliens Versus Predator 2, Gothic, Arcanum, Stronghold, Empire Earth, Soul Reaver 2, Anachronox
2000: Tony Hawk 2, Baldur's Gate II, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Sims, The Longest Journey, No One Lives Forever, Deus Ex, Descent 3, Counter Strike, Diablo II, Thief II, Icewind Dale, McGee's Alice, C&C: Red Alert 2, Hitman
1999: Homeworld, System Shock 2, Age of Empires II, Unreal Tournament, Alpha Centauri, Medal of Honor, FreeSpace 2, Planescape: Torment, Soul Reaver, Silent Hill, EverQuest, Asheron's Call
Heck, you can go back even 10 years, and while times had already changed, it wasn't nearly as bad as it is now, there was still plenty of major good shit coming out:
2011: Batman: Arkham City, TES: Skyrim, Portal 2, Minecraft, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Uncharted 3, Rayman Origins, Gears of War 3, Dead Space 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Total War: Shogun 2, Dark Souls, L.A. Noire, Battlefield 3, The Witcher 2, Bastion, Crysis 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Saints Row: The Third, Killzone 3, Bulletstorm, Terraria, RAGE, Might & Magic: Heroes VI, Alice: Madness Returns, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, DC Universe Online, Duke Nukem Forever and you could already make out the trend for Remakes/Remasters with Beyond Good & Evil HD, God of War Collection, Prince of Persia Trilogy, Resident Evil 4 HD etc.
2010: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, God of War III, Super Street Fighter IV, Bayonetta, Super Meat Boy, Civilization V, BioShock 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Amnesia, Fallout: New Vegas, Just Cause 2, Darksiders, Alan Wake, Metro 2033, Mafia II, Alpha Protocol
2009: Uncharted 2, Street Fighter IV, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Assassin's Creed II, Killzone 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Empire: Total War, Demon's Souls, Left4Dead 2, The Sims 3, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II, Borderlands, Halo 3, Brütal Legend, King's Bounty: Armored Princess, Mirror's Edge, Overlord II, League of Legends, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Risen, Drakensang: The Dark Eye, Wolfenstein, The Saboteur
I'd happily trade any of the recent 20s years against their equivalent 10s or 00s worth of releases, warts and all including less graphical qualities easily.
Someone also brought up titles like Underrail, Grimoire, Divinity: OS 1/2 as to what people will "remember 50 years from now" and aside from these being titles released over an entire decade and not a single year or two (some from when things were already bad, but not anywhere close to today), unless it's about some funny one-note or anecdote I REALLY doubt it.
The simple fact that big publishers are so creatively bankrupt that they have to largely rely on Remasters and Remakes of games originally released during the time periods everyone is still talking about and remembering fondly instead of new Original work to gain people's attention and keep themselves above water should give it away, but somehow this doesn't lead to a light going on in some people's heads. How many Remakes/Remasters of late 70s/early 80s games were there in the late 90s/early 00s?
Also yes, it might well be that 20 years from now things might get even shittier. Maybe half of the characters are Trannies and Furries? And 95% are addictive Mobile Gacha-like games or whatever? Who knows. Just because something can almost always get worse doesn't mean it's not already shit.