I mean yeah. There isn't that much of a drastic shift in game design, except for the bleeding of RPG mechanics into more genres, more roguelite mechanics in indie games (choose one of 3) and having equipment systems in multiplayer FPSes. The biggest hit of 2024 was basically solitaire.

It's hardly that much more different.

Wheras, going from snes through ps1 to xbox 360, things went from 2d (and extremely crude 3d) to textured 3d with jank controls to high fidelity games with standardised controls. Not much changed after that. The huge "innovations" of VR, motion controls, are basically niche due to economic factors, so people aren't exactly having commonplace motion control VR experiences that put them in the game and comparing that to ducking behind cover in gears of war. They're comparing making cover in Fortnite with ducking behind cover in gears of war.

The line between 4th and 5th gen (SNES to N64) was enormous, 5th to 6th was pretty significant, 6th to 7th was noticeable, and it's been 20 years of small improvements since then.