I think they are generally a lot easier.

The very earliest video games seem to have taken the "arcade game approach" that it didn't really matter if you were able to finish the game. It's probably somewhat appropriate given that many early video games were ports from the arcade.

Somewhere along the line it was determined that when given essentially unlimited time to experience a game (that is, when the players owns the game), that players wanted to see the whole game. Eventually it became a lowest common denominator-type thing...making a game so that "everybody" could beat it eventually.

BTW, I'd love to see exactly where the industry switched...what was the first serious game that clearly demonstrated it was intended to be beaten by any player committed to playing it long enough?