I think big games like call of duty and madden are the "big pot of spaghettis" of video games, easy, simple, and widely consumable. It would be silly to not be able to market with them given how much of a staple they are, I agree with you a billion percent though. I like the companies who definitely have an aesthetic/trend going on that isn't just "pump out same game every year".

(And I havn't played it because fps aren't my thing, but I'd watch stuff like platoon over cod any day)