It isn't just AAA by a longshot. Indie devs are also going through hell.

Part of it is that a lot of companies overstaffed over the pandemic, finished up those projects they were behind on (there is a reason Winter 23/24 has been INSANE), and are now laying people off.

But mostly it is because of economic uncertainty and inflation. Investors are a lot less willing to throw dump trucks of cash at people. That leads to wary investors/shareholders for the large companies and a "need" to punish labor for management's mistakes. And for indie devs that means an inability to get funding.

Danny O'Dwyer and NoClip have been making a game for the past few years to better understand what development is. And they put up a REALLY good video where Danny talks about what goes into a pitch for a publisher and just how incredibly bleak it is. Lots of "Well, at least this one person told me they weren't interested rather than just ghosting us" vibes.