You’re right. I’m not from the USA and I’m not living paycheck-to-paycheck, but having ~6 months of expenses as savings is manageable. That depends on your situation, income, number of children, of course. Will be problematic when you’re earning in the lower income brackets, but for most people that should be a little bit under 10.000€ here in Germany.
TBH: Some games are really a stupid grindfest. I’m avoiding some games because grinding for hundreds of hours to get to the interesting parts is stupid and I don’t have the time for that. An AI that grinds for me would really be great.