Exactly. It makes little sense to fund development that few players will ever see. A developer/publisher could instead cut that content and keep the money as profit.
That's why I think novelty and 'old AAA game' richness has a ceiling development_cost : unit_of_content ratio.
There are things that were feasible for Fallout 1 to do that accountants would lose their shit over today, precisely because they were relatively cheap then and astronomically expensive now.
... the real travesty is the corollary of that though: that gameplay/difficulty must ensure a maximum number of players see all the content.
Which has led to the 'impossible to fail' gimmicks that make modern AAA games feel less satisfying.
Honestly, it feels like Rockstar and Valve are the only ones making truly great AAA games these days...
(But mostly because they're on stable financial footing and willing to take as long as it takes)
That's why I think novelty and 'old AAA game' richness has a ceiling development_cost : unit_of_content ratio.
There are things that were feasible for Fallout 1 to do that accountants would lose their shit over today, precisely because they were relatively cheap then and astronomically expensive now.
... the real travesty is the corollary of that though: that gameplay/difficulty must ensure a maximum number of players see all the content.
Which has led to the 'impossible to fail' gimmicks that make modern AAA games feel less satisfying.
Honestly, it feels like Rockstar and Valve are the only ones making truly great AAA games these days...
(But mostly because they're on stable financial footing and willing to take as long as it takes)