A little confused as to why this miner difficulty got worse? One would think that more people mining, it would become easier. .. or better yet, a 'fixed' mining difficulty rate.
If the price keeps declining, the difficulty will adjust, boosting profitability. If the price rebounds and begins to rise, the difficulty will continue to rise and catch up, but profitability should still rise.
The only ones losing out on this are the ones selling their machines and/or selling their coins. The winners are the ones that hodl.