Outside of a few niche genres, the expectations have scaled faster than the tech has, compensated by scaling up team sizes.
The indie game market is far from a niche genre, and expectations remain within reach of the tech available to solo developers. It has never been easier to get into hobby game dev than it is today.
In the context of the article, the author is talking about Indie games. Normally those feature simple but well-crafted graphics and mechanics. Many of the genres biggest hits have been made by individuals or very small teams. Some examples are 2D platformers with some kind of ingenious twist. Making a platformer in 2023 is not very difficult, but making a good one is.
I’ve had an idea for a strategy game I’ve wanted to make for years, but a big reason I haven’t started it has been how much tuning of the mechanics I will need to do, and a distrust of my attention span being able to slog through that process. However the game I have planned, while doable by one person, is a much larger scale than some of the most famous and influential indie games
I don’t think anyone would claim the actual game design is much easier (and the marketing is probably more difficult now).