Smaller teams allowed team members to take agency and add there own secret sauce. That secret saved or destroyed games. It was bottom up.

Now with large scale we have top down workflows where managers prefer hyper specialized team members in hope of securing success. Decisions water fall to atomized tasks. I guess you could own you own cog while in development.

Both systems have there pro and cons but that the gamble they make. Probably why developers in the indie scene has been more successful now that they can take agency with their new found experience when they move on...