"Generally". The bulk of video game market is those big studios.several large franchises that this is applicable to what you say. But generally this is not really the case
Incidentally, a relative that worked at Bungie, which made blockbuster "Halo" for the last decade or so, reported basically the same as my impression. Also echoed the 'off the wall' hollyweird exec. That, along with a lot of other bad practices like milking new hires while not giving em full contract like they deserve, or taking their work deemed (according to exec feedback) substandard and then using it no less than the other best work produced in the art dept., or deadbeat art leads to the point that even old timers in the studio ended up leaving over it... And so on.
And I'd be curious to see a comprehensive survey of all indie studios. How many "quality" ones vs completely crappy ones.
