Easy to say, not so easy to fund:
For all the ASTROBOT hype in the gaming media, launch window sales have been decidedly disappointing for the GOTY. (~1.5m copies) for a gross of around $75M. Profits, if any, will have to wait on the long tail.
Numbers are unavailable for PRINCE OF PERSIA but its team got disbanded because of underwhelming sales and MS found HI FI RUSH results so underwhelming they divested the IP along with the studio, unlike the.TOYS FOR BOB divestiture.
The issue isn't necessarily the quality of the game but the price.
There is no shortage of platformers and 2D games in the Indie world but few if any go for $50. Most seem to run $15-30 and are built by small teams for $1M or less.
Also, that kind of small game is very well represented in the mobile space.
Development costs are going to have to come way down for the big studios to be able to turn a profit on small games. Both MS and Sony currently fill that section of their stores with timed exclusive Indie games or non-exclusives. Also, the kind of staff that might cook up a small game can instead be deployed to craft DLC for a top selling game or seasonal content to support a live service game.
The 1990's are a generation away and the economics of gaming are way different in these days of high corporate overhead, pixel pimping, licensed engines, and even unions.
One way quality can be maintained while reducing big studio costs to indie levels is anathema to the very pundits pushing for more such games: generative software. So pick your poison.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram