It means you should go the other way. Open world winning against smaller, handcrafted environments and stories was generally a mistake, and so is this.
What does it mean, that open world winning was a mistake? That the market is wrong, and peoples' preferences were incorrect, and they should prefer small handcrafted environments instead of what they seem to actually buy?
What does it mean, that open world winning was a mistake? That the market is wrong, and peoples' preferences were incorrect, and they should prefer small handcrafted environments instead of what they seem to actually buy?