I would argue the blame moreso lies on gamers getting cheaper and feeling entitled. Our 1990's bretheren spent more than double what we do and those games sold for far more profit at that price point. Nowaways we want all kinds of features in games, pushing developers to crunch like crazy and not provide higher pay scales/bonuses that developers deserve because we think games should stay at $60 in perpetuity.

And most of those $15-25 games are either pixel art (cheap) or extremely short HD games. This is a fully funded game and we will feel that funding as we play it.

Salaries and hourly pay haven't kept up with inflation and cost of living across most of the developed world, though. Besides, I'd argue that there was a larger share of parents paying for games back then, not folks in their twenties and early thirties.

Probably a bit over optimistic here, but I went with 3M+ option. "Switch effect" will carry the game to such numbers I think. With lots of people trying Metroid series for the first time.

One reason for the lack of price equity is that games aren't terribly original anymore.  "Time for the annual Call of Duty, *yawn*".  Originality matters a lot in entertainment.  I would probably pay $60 for a physical version of Cuphead on Switch, because the game actually feels fairly original.  Who cares that it is in 2d?  But Cuphead is unusual nowadays in that it is a well made original game.

I actually didn't think the SNES had much originality at the time, but I was comparing it to the NES.  Compared to modern consoles it was brimming with originality:  Street Fighter 2, Earthbound, Mortal Kombat, FF4, Mario Paint, Actraiser, etc... all felt extremely original compared to what came before, and they were all considered significant releases at the time (i.e. not budget titles).  Today's major releases don't have this level of originality.

Although Metroid has never been a mainstream hit outside of when people bought Prime expecting it to be a Halo like shooter I think Dread can do 3m+ why? Because the industry recently has been more into the genre and Switch momentum along with word of mouth can push the series to it's next step in success.

No idea, not enough is known. From what I saw I didn’t see much that inspires more than those purchasing because of the Metroid license. The game looks less interesting than other similar games like Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge, and Cave Story. But who knows? There’s stuff they haven’t shown: if it’s just content, I don’t see it as an interesting game compared to the competition - if they have intriguing features, or if the hunt-down stuff is more than just scripted events, then the sky's the limit. I think the aiming is interesting, but that was a selling point in 2006 when the Wii and DS Lite came out, not so much in 2021.

I also think pricing will be a big deal. If the game is selling full price - I don’t see high sales. I think the sweet spot is in the 30-60% range if going for volume. My gut says to price it high to gouge people who will buy it because of the license. If 2 million buy it at full price, that’s better than 6 million at 30%. It really depends on business goals: brand expansion or profit.

Which shooter sells a skin for 20 dollars? 

Fortnite for one, that's where I got the $20 figure from, and I'm sure there are others if one game has proven people will pay it.

Plus, now that I think of it, we have to take into account they'll be wanting to recoup not only the costs of developing this version of Dread, but also the canceled versions over the last 15 years.

At the end of the day though it ultimately comes down to Nintendo not wanting to water down the value of their first party IPs, and since they depend on their first party properties their very survival I think that's fair enough. I for one am happy to pay $80 AUD for the quality Nintendo typically delivers.

Metroid Dread the most pre-ordered game at Gamestop following E3:
https://nintendoeverything.com/gamestop-reveals-its-top-ten-game-pre-orders-following-e3-2021/