This is a hilarious controversy to me because it is so obviously a labor dispute but nobody is covering it that way.
If you work as a creative and your product doesn't sell because you were forced to cut corners by your boss you should be mad at your boss not your audience.
I'd suggest they get busy then. I'm sorry for being terse but as someone who has been fired for unionizing I get a little annoyed with takes that boil down to "a better world isn't possible".
I don't think any of the any of the takes today boiled down to that though. I mean just check out the games these guys work on, Xavier made Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator and Josh Sawyer directed Pentiment. They get to experiment and make cool stuff I think they for sure think a better world is possible.
Anyone who is convinced it can get better probably burns out and leave the industry. Most people leave the industry for better working conditions
If Xavier specified that he meant the publishers expectations are unreasonable I wouldn't have a problem but these critiques aren't about the publishers they're about the audience having too high of expectations.