You are correct. There are game developers who innovate and there are ones who get the job done. These guys fall into the latter category. They are the pulp novelists of the game industry. There is a place for them and they know their role.

I'm not sure that's terribly exciting to anyone here, though. Few on HN, I presume, would start up a game studio in order to be the next Realtime Associates, even though they have been around for 23 years.