Graphics used to be the hallmark of a great game. Back in the early days, if your game didn’t come with improved graphics, it was trash (like, '90s era games I’m talking about). These days, good graphics can be achieved pretty easily, so it’s not nearly as important as it used to be when trying to stand out from the crowd. If I had to pick the tipping point for this trend, I would have to say Minecraft was the game that proved definitively that graphics < gameplay.
Employers pay their workers the bare minimum legal wage, yet are shocked when the work is the bare minimum you would need to do not to get fired. Weird.