So being out of the loop for several years now....

I disagree with the Covid theory. I think there's just a saturation of product and in the case of hardware, there's not only many, many players in the higher end, there's pressure from below with lower priced hardware. Example, the $249 Rex Ambassador right now has 61 reviews on Amazon. The Bambaw at $20.49 has 11,300+ reviews. A lot of competitors for a very small segment of a segment.
On the software side, I suspect many are making product and selling enough to make it a bit of a side hustle without making enough to quit their "day jobs". We're likely seeing some decide it's just not worth it.
My $.02.

There is no one single answer. There are many factors at play.

The average shaver cannot afford to pay $250 and up for a high end razor. Reports say that many families are struggling to provide food for their children. In that situation, a $20 razor is a more reasonable option.

If you look at some of the shaving vendors, they may list 1000 different shaving soaps/scents. However, if you sort the list by popularity, you will find that is soaps costing less than $20 tend to be more popular. That includes soaps like Arko, Proraso, Stirling, Ogalala, Speick, and Col Conk. They are not popular because they are the best performing soaps; they are popular because they are inexpensive and can do the job for many shavers.

Many shave soaps are reformulating to use fats such as palm oil and palm kernel oil. Again, these fats are not used because the produce superb performing soaps, although the soaps produced from these fats tend to be rather slick. The fats are the least expensive so it helps the producer to keep pricing low and appeal to largest number of consumers. The exotic ingredients used for many artisan soaps and scents have become increasingly expensive. While the performance and aroma of some of these products can be incredible, many shavers cannot afford to purchase these more expensive products, at least not in the current economic environment.

There is no one single answer. There are many factors at play.

The average shaver cannot afford to pay $250 and up for a high end razor. Reports say that many families are struggling to provide food for their children. In that situation, a $20 razor is a more reasonable option.

If you look at some of the shaving vendors, they may list 1000 different shaving soaps/scents. However, if you sort the list by popularity, you will find that is soaps costing less than $20 tend to be more popular. That includes soaps like Arko, Proraso, Stirling, Ogalala, Speick, and Col Conk. They are not popular because they are the best performing soaps; they are popular because they are inexpensive and can do the job for many shavers.

Many shave soaps are reformulating to use fats such as palm oil and palm kernel oil. Again, these fats are not used because the produce superb performing soaps, although the soaps produced from these fats tend to be rather slick. The fats are the least expensive so it helps the producer to keep pricing low and appeal to largest number of consumers. The exotic ingredients used for many artisan soaps and scents have become increasingly expensive. While the performance and aroma of some of these products can be incredible, many shavers cannot afford to purchase these more expensive products, at least not in the current economic environment.

Is that true in this market? I've always been blown away about the argument to buy a cheap stick of soap over a $25 tub. In the artisanal wet shaving spot Stirling catches that middle ground. Most of us shave for performance and fantastic scents and blow a few bucks for a tub that'll last 6 months. I get it, volume will always be on the cheaper soaps widely available at distribution sites but for the bulk of those shavers frequently visiting wet shaving forums it'll be the software with a higher price point especially those in the US.

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I disagree with the Covid theory. I think there's just a saturation of product and in the case of hardware, there's not only many, many players in the higher end, there's pressure from below with lower priced hardware. Example, the $249 Rex Ambassador right now has 61 reviews on Amazon. The Bambaw at $20.49 has 11,300+ reviews. A lot of competitors for a very small segment of a segment.
On the software side, I suspect many are making product and selling enough to make it a bit of a side hustle without making enough to quit their "day jobs". We're likely seeing some decide it's just not worth it.
My $.02.

I think you're very right on the software side, a few of the artisans who left the space have definitely said that they're just focusing on their other/full-time work stuff which of course totally makes sense.

(as a side note, do we really think that there have been $11,300+ Bambaw's sold??  )