Good point. And it's a lot easier to accept 'failure' (there could still be something learned in a game that doesn't quite hit the mark) if the budget isn't astronomical.

There are games like FFXV that get quite creative on a big budget. (Not sure if it's AAA.) I enjoyed that game but some of the novel features bugged me a little bit and they skimped on some important features, I thought. Maybe there's a better formula for trialling novelty than an all or nothing approach.