>>33922I think AAA developers/publishers have tricked themselves into thinking that they have no choice but to continuously push graphical fidelity despite the numerous obvious downsides, because they're worried what will happen when they stop. Despite how many gamers say they don't care about graphics, there's still a whole cohort who makes fun of any game that doesn't have top tier graphics (and there's often a crossover). Then you have investors/shareholders who are often normies who only value presentation and care nothing for actual game design.
It's hard for an industry that's been continuously bloating itself to suddenly turn back. There's also an issue of specialization, a lot of modern AAA game devs are trained to do only one specific thing (e.g. particle effects), as opposed to game devs of yesteryear that may have been more or less skilled in specific areas but were moreso generalists who wore a lot of hats on smaller teams. I personally think the industry would be much better off shifting to a "smaller and more games by smaller and more teams" model but the transition wouldn't be easy.
Unfortunately I don't think these mass layoffs will lead to what I want. This isn't some kind of reckoning, it's big corporations sacrificing workers after making poor financial decisions. If anything I expect a further doubling down. Instead of AAA we'll have AAAA - insanely bloated live service games. The suits don't care how often that concept fails, they've seen that Destiny money and they want it. Sixth-gen era small-to-medium size games that are made quickly and sell well enough aren't sexy - they want the big payout to get the big bonuses and advance their careers.