As someone that’s worked in games for about 20 years, I’d say anytime you see a developer shoot itself in the foot, this a solid first guess.

I think the difference is software. When something has zero marginal cost to duplicate, you can afford to make it perfect.

A physical object has overhead to produce so there’s more room for compromises while staying competitive.

Yup, I believe it.

It’s interesting that this is a style that’s relatively easy to get AI to output, yet AI slop is instantly recognizable while this actually looks like good art.

I live in Austin TX and just saw this. Heading downtown now, cya there. Thanks OP