Yes, I would agree.
Going back to the 80s - 90s, there was no easy route into microcontrollers.
I had a vague idea that they might be useful in some industrial automation I was working on, but that was about all.
I had to call in some favours to get any programming done. They might have been 80xx devices.
Everything was expensive then, including the few development kits. I was using RS and Farnell then, UK, and the cost of stuff was eye-watering. I remember crimping tools being £300 to £400. Now, a decent crimper is £20. It was prohibitively expensive to get started.
The ESP boards and the Arduino boards have changed all that. It has also got some of the others, STM etc., to appreciate that careers and device choice can start early in life and school pupils can become the buyers of the future.