He can't just say something along the lines of "oh yeah, my policies are what the youth (and not just them) is taking issue with so we'll go back to the drawing board on these and see if we can do better by the people".

This. Macron knows perfectly what he is doing, and why, and for what objective and for whom benefit.

The guy was dancing in an Elton John concert when the cities were burning.

Yep. But hey, blame video games instead of his policy, and maybe next time old people will vote for him instead of Le Pen!

Is this a new thing in France? People have been blaming video games and movies in the US for a really long time now

Macron can't run for president again.

Ah, that does explain why he gives exactly zero fucks about any of his work.