Id like to just stop right there for a second. You see this is the exact problem people have with ea and madden. Im not one to say devs dont work hard on it. But the issue is ,EA has over and above the resources readily available to them, they have the talent, and have had the time ( how old is madden now?) . Yet they dont produce what they should given they have all that.
I would agree with you, eventhough im clearly not a game dev , i think the smaller companies , guys have to take lower pay , but in hopes they have less restrictions on them and let their actual talent shine and maybe one day that pays off big for them. I look no farther than the 16 people who made No Mans Sky , while at launch took alot of flack. Those guys didnt just fold, they kept working hard all year to improve game and it is a very fun game , that they are not done improving. I believe they got a good payday for it as well. But im sure they had to sacrafice alot ( especially since their studio was flooded mid dev).Rocket League is another one that comes to my mind right off.Great game, small company, very inventive imo.
The problem lies to most it seems, that EA has the talent and the money and has had the time, but yet keeps just repeating things over and over instead of learning from them and doing more for a game that has an entire large market cornered.