Do modern AAA games still live up to expectations?

After the unexpected success of major hit video game Palworld by the indie company Pocketpair, there have been lots of discussions across social media about the state of modern video games, especially AAA games. Some discussions range from the following:

• AAA games have already built an empire (e.g. Pokemon franchise) that they don't need to innovate harder to appeal to fans. (The fans will purchase their game just for the branding.)
• There's too much politics and broader issues (like ethics) involved in AAA games.
• People involved in creating AAA video games have little say in the final product. The people at the top of the ladder have the say. Gears Of War's Cliff Bleszinski describes his pitch for a Palworld-like game that was turned down.
• AAA game developers focus too much on either creating totally new ideas that end up feeling like a disconnect to players, or always sticking to their same game formula, rather than borrowing successful ideas from other games.

What do you think?

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Personally for me, I think AAA games have been on a decline for several years. The 80s and 90s were great times for games, and even the 2000s, but I think 2010s really showed a decline in AAA games. Even games that started out as indie games, but were bought by some corporation (e.g. Minecraft which was bought by Microsoft) have felt somewhat stagnant. I think the recent success of Palworld is a wakeup call for AAA game companies to get themselves straightened out.