We are also in a period of something I've called the 'fidelity death cult,' where a lot of games are trying for hyper-realistic art styles, hyper-high fidelity, hyper-customization, hyper-intricacy. - Mark Darrah
Developers may believe games that people can play for a long time - 'the forever game' - sell better than those that can be finished in a few sessions and shelved. But making games with dozens of hours worth of content or with complicated systems that interact in interesting ways naturally take longer to make.
Darrah doesn't think that the same holds true for games that simply look better. Instead, he says the 'fidelity death cult' may emerge from fear of player reactions rather than genuine desire from developers.
Moving away from the practice could certainly cut down on development time significantly without any loss of quality, but it would also mean putting up with the complaints of players who can't understand why every new game isn't made from scratch.
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