Sure they are now, that's simply where the money is nowadays. 5 years ago it was battle passes 5 years before that it was an attempt to recoup costs with used game. 5 years prior to that it was experimenting with DLC types and seeing what would stick. And 5 years before that it was trying to have long term subscription attachments to a game.

Games are ultimately tech. And games grew along with the internet. It was inherently going to be run more like a tech company than a media conglomerate for that reason. I see it less as games being exploitative than a double edged sword, like the internet itself. It can be a lot more exploitative. But it also opened up entire mediums of ideas and arguably tore down world borders.