Counterpoint: indie games, they will often have similar sized teams or smaller and come out with great games. AAA games build on top of gameplay mechanics from either older games or indie games, but need the extra staff and investment due to higher quality (and quantity) assets.
To generalize, indie games focus on the core gameplay loop, AAA games on high effort visuals.
This is why I've been playing indie ges almost exclusively lately. The core game play is just so much tighter in a small game vs. AAA games where they implement a huge amount of features.
To generalize, indie games focus on the core gameplay loop, AAA games on high effort visuals.