"The industry really needs to return to the once in a while AAA project supported by projects that even though are less in scope are polished and quality."

This describes Nintendo's philosophy quite well, I think.

If that is how you interpreted it then that is how you interpreted it.

Pretty sure this is no hidden secret, Ken Levine upped and left because of similar problems in AAA development, he recently said it hit him particularly hard because he's never really been the upbeat type. The AAA approach as a whole looks to be more self destructive for the industry when that's all everyone is going for.

The industry really needs to return to the once in a while AAA project supported by projects that even though are less in scope are polished and quality instead of the constant AAA attempts like today as it's becoming more miss than hits tbh.

Are you saying that other companies should become more like Nintendo?

You're kidding yourself if you don't Nintendo has hundreds of employees working 60-80 hour work weeks for months on end the same as every other development studio. Nintendo is no better or worse in this regard.

I meant the second part of the comment. About releasing smaller games as well, not just AAA. I'm pretty sure the Zelda team, for example, works their damn asses off.

The thing is, the people that have the opporunity to create those solutions often don't want to, because it's not as beneficial for them. The developers have little say in the matter when their superior is cracking the whip on them. It's a direct conflict of interest. Again, referring back to my own job, what is best for our project managers (low immediate costs, short timelines, keeping clients happy by giving into to their every whim) is directly at odds with what is best for me (better but more immediately expensive tools and processes, adequate timlines, and sometimes telling the client that they have no idea what they want and they should just listen to my expertise on the matter goshdangit). That's just the unfortunate nature of the job. We're the grunt workers and the code monkeys at the end of the day.

It doesn't help when gamers put pressure on these companies to make bigger, better games with better graphics and no delays or far off release dates. 

Yes that is how I interpret, basically because that is how you are portraying it. There are already games that doesn't emphasize graphics if you want to buy them, so you don't need to be complaining about games that do because other people value that.

You're kidding yourself if you don't Nintendo has hundreds of employees working 60-80 hour work weeks for months on end the same as every other development studio. Nintendo is no better or worse in this regard.

They all work their damn asses off. How about you go ask the guys at team meat how many hours they put into Super Meat Boy, or Phil Fish on Fez, or Jonathan Blow on Braid?

I bet you it's more than 80 hours a week, especially in the last 1/4 of their development process.

Just because you're on a smaller team or a smaller project doesn't mean you're not putting in disgusting amounts of time and effort. The only consolation being in those cases, those guys CHOSE to put in those hours, whereas working for any major publisher, they expect you to. In fact, in my experience, I put in more hours developing smaller, lower budget games than I did multi-million selling AAA games.

Again, that's just my experience though. In general, you're right, smaller projects tend to be less demanding.

They all work their damn asses off. How about you go ask the guys at team meat how many hours they put into Super Meat Boy, or Phil Fish on Fez, or Jonathan Blow on Braid?

I bet you it's more than 80 hours a week, especially in the last 1/4 of their development process.

Just because you're on a smaller team or a smaller project doesn't mean you're not putting in disgusting amounts of time and effort. The only consolation being in those cases, those guys CHOSE to put in those hours, whereas working for any major publisher, they expect you to. In fact, in my experience, I put in more hours developing smaller, lower budget games than I did multi-million selling AAA games.

Again, that's just my experience though. In general, you're right, smaller projects tend to be less demanding.