As a rule, in unconventional gas/oil plays, this is the case. The vertical wells which are 'replaced' would not, individually, have reached payout as a general rule. The ability to frac two miles of pay (+/-) versus ten feet (or less) per well is what makes it work.
You’re correct. Also to add... historically, vertical wells were drilled into sand formations. Sand providing porosity that shale doesn’t. Even then sand formations were often fracked. We’ve known for years that there was gas in the shale, but did not have the ability to produce it in commercial quantities without the advent of horizontal drilling.