In an interview with Edge magazine, Bruce Straley, game director of The Last of Us and Uncharted 4, noted that the huge budgets and scale of AAA projects leave developers little room for fresh and innovative ideas.
I think the actions and experiences we offer in the AAA segment, I would say, are boring. If you look at AAA games in general, I get the impression that there's no opportunity to implement fresh, innovative ideas there.
Straley cited God of War Laufey as an example. He highly praised the work of Sony Santa Monica but remained indifferent to the gameplay:
I look at God of War Laufey, and every pixel is incredibly impressive. [...] But when I look at what you actually do in that game, I'm not thrilled.
Straley is currently developing a small studio, Wildflower Interactive, which focuses on more unusual projects.