Source please.  I've never heard about Nintendo comissioning or backing this project.  This was done by the Cops DS guys who are known for pushing hardware linke Shin'en.

Whether youre talking about Gears or another game, do you imagine Ironfall will have even half the success as Gears has?  Probably not, and there is a reason for that

This can be applied to other big games as well

I cant even believe a game like this is even for the 3ds

Sales are an unrelated issue, I'm not talking about advertisement budgets. Who cares if Galaxy or Gears have ten thousand strong teams as long they have the same strong core gameplay and gorgeous styles? We're not talking about all games having teams of three, but it just exemplifies how much teams could be shrunk in theory.

I heard people say on Twitter Nintendo had gotten this done after the Direct, I assume that meant a news story had broken somewhere about the nature of how they had requested this (or whatever exactly did happen) but I was too psyched about other things to look it up at the time. You may be correct.

I am not saying they'd need to make them all indie level, but there is a signifacant gap between the size Nintendo would need for a comparable end product and the overbloated budgets some companies invest in their games that can minimize the opportunity for experimentation despite Nintendo having many products that easily stand alongside those games. Why shouldn't other companies immitate such 'profit maximizing' practices?

For a publisher, hitting a target ROI for a given number of dollars and work hours is the only thing that really matters. Smaller projects/teams can help big publishers from putting all their eggs in one or two basket.

That is a horrible mis-example. Assassin's Creed has a brand name, mainstream advertising, no 'cartoony' stigma, heavily action oriented gameplay, and a retail release. - If you switched the quality of AC: Unity and Child of Light... well I can't say no-one would complain, a vocal minority of RPG gamers would be pissed. 

Hell being mindful of what they can do and not thinking money solves everything would be GOOD for AC based on that game.

But its not a bad example.  AAA games are what you would consider high risk high reward.  They cost a lot more so they have to sell more but they make a lot of money when theyre successful. 

Id consider the op to be more of a poor example than anything when youre comparing a game that you dont know if it will be good or bad, sell well or anything,  compared to a game sold 6m and is considered one of the best franchises in games.

I mean, is Ironfall good?  You dont know.  Can a good game be made at cheap costs?  Yes and it happens all the time.  minecraft, Braid, Castle Crashers, Limbo, etc  But these games also can be considered innovative and had great artstyle, not copying another franchise that will ultimately not compare to whom theyre copying

Could gears have been made cheaper?  Yeah and it wouldnt have been the same quality or have sold near as well.  Different games have different goals and the consumer will decide if their goals will be met

http://www.metacritic.com/game/3ds/ironfall-invasion

Your post hurts me so bad.  I had high hopes for this game.

That makes no sense lol