True if you want to replace base load of a civilization size network it needs to be economically viable, but we generate "a lot" of power at higher than market minima. Ironically, "good batteries" are the natural enemy of fusion research.

One fun thing about laser fusion is it theoretically can scale down very low and has a trivial "off" switch making it a good resource for engineering tokamak reactor materials or sensors or similar tasks.

The inner lining of a production fusion reactor is hard to make, so a laser facility would be ideal for research. Which is why we have one...