I'm painfully aware of all that, it's what makes it so goofy. A game isn't a prime mortgage bundle. It also implies that money = quality(similarly, calling a game 'AAAA' is basically saying "we're spending an even more ridiculous amount of money, therefore it's going to be even better").
At this point, money does = quality.
There's a large crowd for whom the phrase "press A to awesome", if they ever heard it, would be great praise, and who want to be able to bullshit at the water cooler about what they pulled off last night and have the other guy understand. Money can only reliably add flash and push up the advertising budget, sure, but the average consumer wants a game that's, first and foremost, flashy and mass-marketed.
Those who want to condemn this new decadence should remember past megahits like "press circle to summon Bahamut, as seen on soda cans and chip packets" or "dial-a-combo to rip out Johnny Cage's spine, before Congress bans it".