I'm not saying story is a bad thing. It's not, but it seems like a lot of devs focus so heavily on coming up with an engaging story and good visuals that they forget to actually make the game fun to play.
I think about some of the games I've played over the years, and a lot of my favorites either had fairly limited or even downright absurd plots that basically boil down to an excuse to make the gameplay loop happen.
Just a random musing.
I definitely agree with regards to the bloat. Like on paper, it seems like it makes sense. Get more people doing a wide range of legwork, should provide results very quickly. The reality though is that structure, communication, delays, logistics, etc etc. bog the entire thing down, all while ramping up the costs over a longass period of time for a company.
Also, if I remember right, I think there is a slightly less organic reason for why some companies have been overbloating their employee counts. I don't remember if it had to do with investors and stock value or laws governing requiring a minimum x number of employees to be considered a y-type of company.
Not something that's specific to game companies, but a lot of tech companies in particular.