Ghosts is basically continuing the same approach to game development we saw in GT7, Ragnorak, FF7 Rebirth, Spiderman 2, Astro bot and Death Stranding 2. It's akin more to DLC than a full refresh. Some games look better than others, but ultimately the lack of graphics upgrades are a very conscious decision by studio heads and suits over at Sony. You do the bare minimum, charge $70 for DLC, and watch as the cash and GOTY awards roll in.
This wont change until the critics speak up, until fanboys stop jerking off to last gen visuals, and until people stop giving GOTY awards to mid tier 2001 era games like Astrobot.
The industry is in a bad place not because of Sony devs being lazy, but because everyone from consumers to critics, publishers and devs alike have rewarded mediocrity all generation. Look at the 90 metacritic of virtually every single one of those games above and tell me why they would bother updating graphics let alone add meaningful next gen gameplay features. I said this before, but i was shocked to find out that there are zero new PCC structures in DS2. They did add some upgrades to combat, but utlimately for a game designed around traversal, there were zero new features added. The result? 90 metacritic for a game that could pass off as DLC were it not for the expensive looking cutscenes.
Copy pasta visuals in Ragorak, GT7, FF7 Rebirth, Astrobot and Ghosts 2. Copy pasta game design in DS2. Copy pasta city in Spiderman 2. Equals dozens of GOTY awards and tens of millions in sales.
meanwhile, Callisto, Avatar, outlaws, AC shadows all flop. Some thanks to gamer outrage over ugly female characters and black leads. Silent Hill 2 and Wukong are robbed of GOTY nominations. It's an industry problem, not a sony one.
Time to look in the mirror and call out cum guzzling when you see it.