Comment Re:No way (Score 1) 250
The sad fact of the video game business is that it is a business. It always comes back to money.
You keep seeing repetitive uninspired games because the market keeps buying those games.
You keep seeing games without branching story lines because that's content that half of your user base won't see. Most of the story and cinemas are done at the end; why pay for a cinema that can't be used because Level X wasn't fun? At the run up towards hitting a ship date time and resources start becoming tight and it's easier to start cutting things then try and make them work. Something that less then 70% of the users see is one of the first things dropped. (Bioware being a fantastic exception as they've made their reputation on branching stories)
It takes on average around 100 people 2 years to make a triple A game. During that time they'll have at least 2400 game ideas (average once a month per person). Not all of these ideas are good, most are risky, and some are safe. Now a good studio will evaluate the ideas and find one the employees are passionate about. A lucky studio will be able to make the game they are passionate about. An unlucky studio will have to make the game that whomever is paying the hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the game feels would be the best return on investment.
If you want innovation stop looking at games that are big enough to be sold in boxes. No one is going to take an interesting risk with millions of dollars. But you'll find people who are willing to take a risk with a few thousand because they're passionate about it. Granted these indie games are unpolished but they're where most of the innovation is.