Different people value different things. For me, graphics (and by extension image quality) help me become immersed in a game's world, which directly effects my enjoyment. Good graphics don't make a bad game good, but they do make good games better for me. I wouldn't have invested so heavily in PC gaming if that wasn't the case, nor would i currently own a PS4 Pro.

As i mentioned in my previous post, 4k seems like a good compromise to your argument. The industry is not going to stop pushing tech, but 4k gives it a good resource dump. It's considerably cheaper than the alternative, while also easily marketable.

I think you should get Horizon, it's a far bigger experience from what i've seen of both games and most likely will be the better game of the two. Plus people are pretty hell bent on spoiling the game from what i've heard so you might want to beat it before you come across a spoiler (if that bothers you).

If you hire cheap Chinese labour it's not that hard... 

That's pretty expensive for an exclusive.
Almost on the same scale as AAA multiplats, but hey I can see where the budget went. Looks good.

 I don't believe I said its only nonNintendo devs doing this. I think that is your bias, not mine. It also fits my narrative just fine. My focus is to not push graphics but instead spend time improving tools to reduce costs. BOTW should not require 2MM sales to break even just as Horizon should not.

The future is here! Outsourcing is just one click away.

I agree that tools should be improved to bring down costs..... but even doing that cost money (until its done).

As things stand in the industry, what makes these games cost as much as they do isn't a mad craze for better graphics. Just look at a game like abzu, rime, child of light, below, the witness....etc. All extremely great looking games but none cost nearly as much as the bigger budget games to make. And that comes down to the size of the world and the assets that goes into those worlds. These games cost as much as they do because of how big, varied or how high the production levels are in the game. No amont of tools will bring down those costs.

20 years ago a game like ocarina of time had nothing but its world and gameplay to go for it. That was ok then and marked the pinnacle of game development. Today? development has grown, and now you need things like voice actors, cinematic directorsz surround sound design teams....etc, All these things add to the quality of the "base" game and in turn its cost of development.

Then we have games like COD, which doesnt really cost more than $30-$40M to actually develop each game.... but has a marketing budget that could b 3-4x more than that!!!!

All I am saying is that there is way more than graphics that result in why games cost as much as they do now.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-60-dollar-video-game.html

GG is a Sony studio, so Sony paid that $47.5M (just going with the current Euro to USD conversion rate). Sony will be getting back ~$34 per game at a $60 retail price. Not $9. So about 1.4M sales needed to break even if that 45M Euro includes marketting. 

The point is it's not a black and white issue you can't just blame  it just on having increased graphical fidelity ,that is why he bought up BOTW to show that graphics are just a small part of a much larger picture , I feel that marketing is where the fat should be trimmed. 

We cry out for more than just graphics, new  living breathing dynamic worlds to explore better AI that gives us more non core  NPC's who's behaviour and physical appearence  isn't a clone of the last one all this and a myriad other choices  cost time and money, and we want it for $60rrp a pricepoint that hasn't increased for a long time, do we  need every one to be on the cutting edge no we need diversity and that includes games with all types of budgets.

Does Horizon have Gwent?

No?

GTFO.