I don't think graphics are the issue on their own. The problem starts when better graphics become the priority instead of making a better game. Some of the games I remember most weren't technically impressive, but they had great gameplay, a unique style, and felt like they were made with a clear purpose.

A lot of AAA games seem to keep getting bigger, yet not necessarily more enjoyable. Huge maps, endless side activities, and dozens of hours of content don't add much if the core experience feels repetitive. I'd happily take a well-crafted 20-hour game over a bloated 100-hour one any day.

Ill take less graphics and better gameplay please

I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and I'm not kidding.

People arent expecting more. We are expecting passion projects from fellow gamers.

Companies are leeching the soul out of gaming in the name of profits.

They are just making safe games which are copy paste of previous games to ensure success. And are filled with repeatable content just to fill gametime table.

As for 1, maybe they also gotta to understand that not every game need to have "you can count the wrinkles on every fly on the butt of your super realistic horse" level of detail.

Yeah this seems a fair summary, although I think the question more accurately should be "Why do AAA games now take 6+ years to make?"

There are plenty of smaller and indie games that don't take 6 years. There are also plenty of smaller and indie games that do take 6+ years but for somewhat different reasons.

They're just like Hollywood blockbuster execs. They'd rather one game that copies what they've identified as popular from other games and media to formulate a game that can make hundreds of millions in profit if not into the billions rather making a bunch of smaller games that can make smaller profits. Single to double digit million dollar profits. It'd take a large amount of smaller hits that they can't imagine managing to accomplish to equal the profit of one mega hit so go big or go home. Unless you're Nintendo, they churn out smaller games and they have a brand/game identity that people generally don't seem to be let down from. They're consistent

Go from the summer blockbuster equivalent holiday AAA graphics bonanza game where the rest of the year was filled out with cheaper bets to any month is a month for a blockbuster/AAA game. Well, graphics don't sell games like they used to so you get these multi hundred million dollar budget games struggling to sell any better than AAA games made in 2007 that were made with a fraction of the modern AAA team size and made in like a third of the time to development

Or just put them in early access for 6+ years...

The issue, in my opinion, is company size. Let's not just look at the gaming industry, but in every industry, when your company gets bigger, the decision-making process takes longer and the final result may often deviate from the initial idea, mostly because the decision is no longer made by the operational people. Say, HR may want to cut or remove certain things for liability concerns, PR the same for protecting company image, accounting for resources concern, etc. In an indie studio, it's the same few people who do everything and you may not know that you are supposed to do something or you have less mouths to feed, leading to bold decisions and masterpieces are made when you don't play safe.

So far, Jason is batting 1000 with his YouTube channel.