> For instance, he sees a lot of people who think developers are pushing things down people's throats, are making games bad or annoying on purpose just so that users get frustrated, etc.

There are studios that churn out crap games to capture the casual games market, which is not the gaming industry that an avid gamer would be familiar with.

Watch a kid with a tablet navigate the mobile/casual game market, you will feel sick. They flick between two dozen games in an hour, 90% of each game is locked behind microtransactions, and they get about a minute or two before the unskippable ad shows up.

The ad is for another lootbox/microtransaction fueled game, or actual gambling sometimes, and it's only another couple of minutes before an ad shows up in that game too. Rinse and repeat.

Kids are having their reward circuits absolutely fried, and it is not game enthusiasts making these games, it's just regular old capitalist companies who are trying to squeeze an opportunity.

It is every bit the exploitive, uncreative industry your friend thinks it is, but I do believe it is not the same as the games industry. It's like the difference between a board game and a slot machine.