Did you not see the controversy with tlou2? Not very save
Gow completely changed its gameplay, hardly 'saved'
HZD was a massive risk for GG
Spiderman is 100% by the numbers tho
They might be safe (or not) but innovation is not supposed to be found in the AAA space. At least not gameplay innovation.
That comes from smaller games. Mechanics get polished and if they are adopted and successful then they become part of the AAA space. For example Battle Royale took a few years in the mod scene before it got into the mass market where everyone and their mothers started producing a game with those mechanics. This is a necessity because where BR was taken by the market, many other mechanics are not.
Personally I think it's fine. As a gamer with a limited budget, I don't want to toss a coin worth $70 USD to see if I like what they are doing. I want a safe investment too, knowing what to expect. On the other hand, I'm more than willing to try different things for $20 or even $30.
The only people disappointed with this system are the ones that either play nothing outside of the AAA space and therefore are not aware of innovation and people that get burnt playing something for 250 hours and then jump onto something else within the same genre. Of course is going to feel samey.