Expectations haven't risen, just stayed the same. There was a time where innovation was king, when a new game would come out and you'd think "Wow, that's amazing" which was something which you'd never seen before. What is gaming now? A new Assassins Creed? A new CoD every year? Where's the innovation? Oh they added a dog, oh they have power suits - we didn't see that already 5 years ago. Innovation is dying, but not because we've hit a wall with it, there's lots more you can get out of gaming, companies just won't do it, they would rather stick to taking assets from previous games, sticking to a tried and tested formula to maximise profits, and that's what gaming is now, profit, profit, profit. Basically "innovation" now is improving the graphics of a game and including some free DLC. The ONLY companies seemingly trying to innovate, are Indie companies, it's obvious why, because they need a hook to reel people in, something different, but that's what gaming needs, the big companies won't even bother to attempt it because that will actually take time, effort, and eat into profit.
People used to love making games for the enjoyment of making games, now it's all about the money, which is a sign that the gaming culture has truly changed from what it used to be, you can tell with the popularity of freemium and in-game purchases what gaming really has become now. The days have gone from when you bought a game, you actually got the entire game, now it's all pre-order bonuses & day 1 DLC, things so they get as much money as possible. Do you honestly think this is an improvement over what gaming used to be?