Other people.

Lots of money being spent on overhyped projects that either fail to deliver, cheap upgrades that overrun costs so badly they were never the affordable option, and the actual new stuff that works never sees completion.

Where have I seen these patterns before…

Its a system that does some things really well and some things very poorly, like every other TTRPG. Thus trying to force 5e to do things it was never meant to often either results in a bad experience overall, or basically not using the 5e rules at all.