there have been games built on a budget, hell even a zero-budget, that have been far better than some of the AAA titles we get today. i get that AAA games have a lot of additional expenses like voice acting, marketing, and all the latest development tools, but if they have all of that at their disposal and indie companies still manage to provide them decent competition, then the costs are not justified.

Portal was developed by about ten people in under three years.
You can make great, even perfect games on a tight budget.

There are plenty of indie games with smaller budgets. Don't really need more low budget games then are already being produced as it's already difficult to tell the good from the bad because there are so many. Many of the low budget games are digital only.

Guys

You have to stop letting developers/publishers trick you. Development cost are high only because those developers want them to be. Super Mario Odyssey didnt have a budget anywhere close to something like Destiny, but did that stop it from being a phenomenal game? High development cost is the result of an obsession with "tech" to sell games and just being a great game.

Lets go back to 2D.

A huge part of the Destiny budget was marketing. Actual development cost was high but nothing phenomenal. Hellblade showed that you don't need a huge budget to make a triple a game. I know its technically not triple a, but its basically just same quality as one although a bit shorter. But there are triple a games that are just as short if not shorter, look at RE7 for example.

I personally like the Kickstarter or early access approach, since some games wont get made unless people put money up front. Games like Divinity Original sin 1, 2, pillars of eternity or PUBG would never have gotten made if it wasn't for this. All 4 are phenomenal games that deserve all the praise they are getting.

Actually, 2D can make things more expensive, which is why SNK went with 3D on KOFXIV.

Bro, there is a plethora of 2D games. We never left them. Get on eShop and like 70% are 2D games.

Marketing makes up a huge cost of developing games. COD: MW2 had a total development cost of $250 Million and remains the most expensive game of all time. The total amount of money spent on the game, however was actually $50 Million with the rest being reserved to marketing. Even the development cost of $50 Million was too high considering that Uncharted 4, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and the Witcher 3 are all estimated to have a development cost than MW2. It all comes down to the ability of the developer to properly optimize their game while using their resources sparingly. When you have lazy developers or other factors that impact the development of a game, unnecessary waste of resources will occur and the game will cost more. This case is exactly what happened to 'Too Human'. When we have competent developers like CD Projekt Red and Naughty Dog who properly utilize their resources, the game market will continue to succeed.

I was referring to the time when AAA was 2D. The Genesis and SNES era etc.