RPGs have always been one of the most difficult and risky genres in terms of production. Here is what Owlcat Games founder and CEO Oleg Shpilchevskiy has to say about the challenges posed by rising costs, as well as the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 and its impact on the industry.
Overall it greatly expands the number of players though, even for niche games.
Like I found out about Shadow Empire after playing Stellaris a lot and then finding Dominions 6 as another 4X game, and eventually Shadow Empire.
Shadow Empire (and Dominions for that matter) have a much smaller budget than Stellaris, but they are excellent games that I only found out about after enjoying the genre.