Final Fantasy VII Rebirth likely had a notably smaller budget then FFXVI
People mistake how shiny they find a game with with it's budget, but that is not how it works. Rebirth development was less than 4 years, XVI's was 6.
Rebirths gameplay systems was already ironed out, many character models and animations, already existed. Little to no engine work involved. In many ways Rebirth is less technically ambitious than XVI even if people find the former more visually impressive at a glance.
Rebirths budget is still going to be higher than TOTK because of VO & cutscenes, but they're probably closer than people think. The ambition of TOTK gameplay systems requires immense man hours to iterate, implement and then eventually QC. It's why it took so long, because the games actual content (puzzles and fetch quests) is not what took them 6 years.
