Meh, if the game now are too expensive, they shooted theirself in the foot with powerful consoles that require so work for make realistic graphic and always open-world (i start to dislike open world, i love level structures lol. Child nowaday didnt know how fun was when an enemy pursuit you and when you you reach the endline of a level and eneter in new one, the enemy disappear xD)The homogenization of in-game graphics that you speak of, and there certainly are exceptions but I think much of that has to do with the fact that big games today are so expensive that companies are much less likely to take risks and use unique art styles, hence why we usually see the experimental games on systems like the 3DS as well as on the indie market. I'm not defending such practices but that's my best guess.