Well, there are probably multiple reasons why the art goes more and more generic, one of them is the idea of trying to emulate the reality rather than the ideal, the other is we know the corpo culture does not incentive risk taking and the globohomo culture ensure that all risk goes in the wrong way.
There's also projects becoming so distended in AAA studios that it becomes hard to create a cohesive product, let alone stylized art direction, without really good leadership/organization.
Did 2000+ people need to work on D4, as an example? Probably not.
Well, there are probably multiple reasons why the art goes more and more generic, one of them is the idea of trying to emulate the reality rather than the ideal, the other is we know the corpo culture does not incentive risk taking and the globohomo culture ensure that all risk goes in the wrong way.
There's also projects becoming so distended in AAA studios that it becomes hard to create a cohesive product, let alone stylized art direction, without really good leadership/organization.
Did 2000+ people need to work on D4, as an example? Probably not.