At the height of its technical and commercial power, the video game industry finds itself caught in a paradox of its own making — the greater the resources poured into creation, the narrower the imagination applied to it. Across 2026, rising hardware costs, vanishing ownership rights, and a gravitational pull toward established franchises have left players in a strange position: surrounded by more than ever, yet feeling the contours of something shrinking. The question the moment poses is an old one dressed in new circuitry — whether abundance, left unchecked, becomes its own form of poverty.