I do often wonder if developers and publishers make a rod for their own backs.

If EA gave Bioware $10m and told them to make a PS2-era sort of adventure title that would be sold for $30 with a file size no bigger than 8gb I imagine the developers would be talented enough to create something a lot of people would play.

Smaller budgets mean that devs have to get creative to stand out. Its why all the best ideas tend to come from Indie devs.

I say all this because I've finally got around to playing Fable 1 after decades of replaying the sequels and my word its a breath of fresh air.