Original sentence: As this happened, the wide variety of independent and niche game releases that existed in the 1980s began to decline, as the only entities who could afford the large development cost of a cutting-edge game were large corporations with a desire to appeal to the newly emerging mass market of gamers
Edited sentence: As this happens, the wide variety of games that existed in the 1980s appeared to fade away as the only entities who could afford the large development cost for the elaborate polished games that gamers demanded were large corporations who desired to maximize profitability and lower risk by only 'green-lighting' games that were a sure thing